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SelifJiHS »« Si. Jloqis, IJJissoiiri, 
BY E5iM>^MARVIN, 

OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. 



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SAINT LOUIS r"^'^--*''^'''*^^'^ 
LOGAN D. DAMERON, AGE 

Advocate Publishing House. 

1878. 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, hi the year 1878, by 

LOOAN D. DAMERON, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



PREFACE. 



VERY unexpectedly, I find myself introduced 
into the company of Western book-makers. 
For certainly it was not in all my thoughts, when I 
commenced these lectures, that they would ever take 
the present shape. And I ask the attention of those 
who may read this volume to a very brief history 
of it. 

Last fall a priest of the Roman Church com- 
menced, in this city, a course of lectures on ques- 
tions at issue between Romanists and Protestants. 
These lectures were widely circulated by means of 
their publication in the Missouri Republican. They 
contained a direct assault upon the Protestant Rule 
of Faith. The propriety and duty of meeting the 
attack in some efficient way was widely felt. Un- 
der these circumstances, Rev. D. R. M'Anally, for 
whose views I have long entertained a high regard, 
expressed to me the opinion that I ought to deliver 
a course of kctures, in the Centenary Church, on 
the more prominent topics bearing upon the Papal 
theory ; and proposed, if I would do so, to have 
them reported to the same paper which was publish- 



4 Preface. 

ing the other. Deference to his views, more than a 
conviction that it was my duty to step forward, in- 
duced me to undertake the task. In giving them^ 
to the pubh'c in their present form I act, also, chiefly 
upon the views of my friends. Most of the matter 
contained in them is already accessible to those who 
desire to investigate the subject. The field has been 
thoroughly explored before me. I pretend to orig- 
inality only in arrangement and illustration — except 
that some of the arguments are such as I have not 
met with in books. They may be in print ; but if 
so, I have not seen them. But, while I have pur- 
sued a course of independent thought, I have 
shunned no argument because it was old or oft-re- 
peated. And as to the facts given, they are such 
as have been often used before. 

The view by which I have been chiefly actuated 
in publishing, is this : that these lectures will, at 
present^ be read by many who would otherwise read 
nothing on the subject. I do not, by any means, 
flatter myself that I have made a book for the 
future. If I meet a present demand, it is all I 
propose. 

If I had set out to make a book, the matter would 
have been cast in a different mould. Some points 
would have been more largely elaborated. The an- 
alysis would have been made in reference to the 
%vhole matter^ and thus a more complete presenta- 
tion of it would have been made. It is only with 



Preface. 5 

the understanding that these lectures were delivered 
in my church, on consecutive Sunday evenings, that 
I am willing for them to go to the public in the 
shape of a book. I do not by this mean to depre- 
cate criticism of the argument. I am more than will- 
ing that it should be sifted. 

Portions of the lectures will not be fully under- 
stood except by those who have read those on the 
other side, already referred to. Several arguments 
stand in an attitude which was suggested by therd^ 
and some of the illustrations were designed to meet 
positions taken in them. Still, the general perti- 
nency will be apparent to every reader. 

The effort has been made, by implication^ to excite 
suspicion of the authorities to which I appeal, and 
to make the impression that I have done the Ro- 
man Church injustice. I have announced my readi- 
ness to meet the issue before any tribunal. It is an 
easy matter to insimcate, in general terms, such a 
suspicion. But mark this ; no man has specified 
facts or quotations of mine which were not authen- 
tic. No man will do so while I am at hand to meet 
the allegation. 

It has been said that controversy, and especially 
religious controversy, begets a narrow, bigoted feel- 
ing in those who are engaged in it. May I be al- 
lowed to repudiate such a consequence, at least for 
myself? I do aver that I have realized no such ef- 
fect. God knows, I love the true and the good 



6 Preface. 

every-where. I should hate myself if I could not 
appreciate personal worth in a Romanist as fully as 
in any other man. Is there no distinction between 
theories and men ? I will love Romanists, whether 
they give me credit for it or not. I have an inter- 
est in all the virtue there is in the world, and no 
man shall defraud me of it. Nevertheless, when 
there is a call for it, I must stand up against heresy, 
without asking who it may be that holds it. I must 
disprove it so far as in me is. I must warn men 
against it. I must denounce it. Even if the truth 
should be unpalatable to many whom I should hes- 
itate greatly to disoblige, still it must be told, and 
/ must tell it. 

Not without prayer does this unpretending vol- 
ume go out. Father, I commit it to Thee ! 

E. M. Marvin. 

St. Louis, i860. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
Preface 3 

Lbotukb 

I. The Eucharist — Holy Scripture Alone Authori- 
tative IN THIS DlSCUSSIQ]!? Q 

II. Christ m the Sacrament — Transubstantiation 

Tested by Scripture 23 

III. Is Transubstantiation a Miracle? 37 

IV. Rational and Scriptural Objections to the Doc- 

trine OF Transubstantiation 49 

V. Practical Results of the Doctrine of Transub- 
stantiation , 68 

VI. The History of Transubstantiation — Testimony 

of the Fathers 93 

VIL The Question of the Infallibility of the Church 

Considered in the Light of History 116 

VIII. The Question of Infalijbility Considered in the 

Light of Scripture and Fact 134 

IX. The Question of the Primacy of Peter and the 

Successorship of the Popes Examined 159 

X. Tradition 188 

XI. The Right of Private Interpretation 217 

XII. Individual Accountability — The Duke of Bruns- 
wick's Fiftieth Reason 240 

XIIL Church Unity — Romanist Theory 263 

XIV. Unity of the Church — The True Idea 289 

XV. The Ministry of Christ's Church Contrasted with 

THE Priesthood of the Pope's Church 320 

XVI. Digression — Corruptions of Worship 352 

XVII. Prophetic Delineations of the Papacy 382 



8 Contents. 

Lectitee Paqe 
XVIII. A Case Hypothecated and Met — Another Hy- 
pothecated Case— The Tables Turned — The 
Roman Church in the Light of Symbolic Proph- 
ecy 423 

XIX. The Roman Church Considered in the Light of 

Symbolic Prophecy — Continued 454 

XX. "The Doom of the Papacy" 482 

XXI. What Romanism has Done for Religion and 

Civilization 507 

XXII. The Mission of Protestantism 541 

XXIII. General Reyiew 564 



ERRORS OF THE PAPACY. 



LECTURE I. 



THE EUCHARIST — HOLY SCRIPTURE ALONE AU- 
THORITATIVE IN THIS DISCUSSION. 

THE prevalence of error in religious doctrine is 
one of the chief calamities of the world. To 
what extent prejudice takes precedence of reason 
and testimony, in moulding religious belief we can- 
not know ; nor can we tell the amount of evil pro- 
duced by misbelief. But it is clear that piety is oft- 
en marred, and the life corrupted, by it. 

Error is often active, and propagates itself with 
unhappy success. It must be met, examined, re- 
futed, and repelled. And I am sure you will agree 
with me, that there is a present demand for the de- 
fense of the truth against the encroachments of Ro- 
manism. For this purpose, at the suggestion of a 
friend for whose judgment I have great respect, I 
have determined to deliver a series of lectures on 
various points at issue between Romanists and 
Protestants. The extent of the series I have not 
determined. 

My object in this lecture, and several succeeding 
ones, will be to present a plain, and somewhat thor- 
ough, view of the nature and design of one of the 
Christian sacraments — that of the Lord's Supper 



lo Lecture I. 

■ — and to present Its true scriptural character In con- 
trast with the errors of the Roman Church respect- 
ing It. 

The Christian Church was given to the world by 
our Lord and his inspired apostles, with but few and 
very simple y^r;;^^. In former ages the Church had 
an Intricate ceremonial appendage — a state of things 
demanded by the times, and adapted to the ends 
then to be accomplished. But the forms thus di- 
vinely given were so abused that the worshipers ul- 
timately lost sight of their spiritual significance, 
and, resting in the mere formula, supposed that when 
it had been punctiliously observed the demands of 
religion had been met. Our blessed Saviour, when 
he came, visited no heavier denunciation upon any 
than upon those scrupulous and ostentatious ob- 
servers of all ceremonial requirements, who had over- 
looked the spiritual essence of the law. 

So oblivious had the Jewish mind become of the 
essential characteristics of true piety, that the hon- 
est and earnest Nicodemus, himself a ^' teacher in 
Israel," was astounded at the announcement of the 
great fact of the New Birth, and exclaimed, '' How 
can these things be? " 

The great object to be secured by that ceremo- 
nial plan being realized, the Church was reduced to 
a more simple organization, and its worship insti- 
tuted with a ritual that should avoid such fatal 
abuses. The priest, with his costly robes, and the 
elaborate display of imposing ceremonies, were dis- 
placed. The half dark and half luminous reveal- 
ments of types that opened the pathway of the ages 
to the cross, at length clustered about the person 



Errors of the Papacy. n 

of the Son of God in his agony, and gave the atone- 
ment up to history. 

The facts of our holy reHgion were then revealed 
no more by symbol, but by statement and descrip- 
tion. That which the symbol labored to disclose, 
and yet half concealed, stood forth naked to the 
sight of men, and Christ appeared, '^ evidently cru- 
cified, before them." The stern grandeur of the 
sacrificial ritual was superseded by the more appall- 
ing grandeur of the earthquake and the black heav- 
ens, and the death-struggle of all meaner victims 
ceased when the Divine Sufferer " cried with a loud 
voice, and gave up the ghost." That cry has been 
vibrating upon the ear and rending the heart of 
humanity ever since. 

Appearing thus in the mid-day of history, the 
facts of redemption would but be shaded and ob- 
scured by symbolical surroundings, however gor- 
geous. It reveals its own meaning best. 

Accordingly, our Saviour appointed but one rite 
(and that a very simple one) connected with his suf- 
ferings. It was the eating of bread and the drink- 
ing of wine by his disciples " in remembrance of 
him," and is commonly and appropriately denomi- 
nated '' The Lord's Supper." 

Nothing can exceed the unostentatious beauty of 
the narrative which records its institution. It is 
given by three of the Evangelists : Matthew xxvi, 
26j 30; Mark xiv, 22, 26; and Luke xxii, 19, 20. 
In the last of these places it is given in these words : 
*' And he took bread, .and gave thanks, and brake 
it, and gave unto them, saying. This is my body, 
which is given for you ; this do in remembrance of 



12 Lecture I. 

me. Likewise, also, the cup after supper, saying, 
This cup is the new testament in my blood which 
is shed for you." The apostle, in i Cor. xi, gives 
the same account of it, with inspired directions as 
to the manner of observing the solemn ordinance. 

Nothing melts its way into the Christian's heart 
more deeply than those words which come from the 
very shadow of the cross, '^ This do in remembrance 
of me." The great sorrow was in Jesus' soul already 
when he uttered them. In them he committed his 
dying token to his friends in all future time. The 
best responses of our nature are given to the solici- 
tations of dying love, and no other call commands 
them with such potency as the last pulsations of re- 
deeming pity. 

What is that act which Christ has thus com- 
manded ? And what end is served in its perform- 
ance ? 

Unfortunately, the strangest contradictions are 
found in the various responses which have been giv- 
en to these interrogatories. 

On the one hand, we are assured that the very 
body and blood, and infinitely more, the soul and 
divinity of Christ, are present in the eucharistic ele- 
ments, under the appearance of bread and wine ; 
the species, bread and wine, under certain words of 
consecration, being converted into the whole person 
of our Saviour, and that it is indeed he that is eaten 
by the faithful, and that, being thus received and 
eaten by them, he conveys to them his saving 
grace. 

Then, on the other side, we are assured that only 
bread and wine are received in the Eucharist, and, 



Errors of the Papacy. 13 

when received in faith and in remembrance of Christ, 
it becomes the means (not the agent) of grace to the 
recipient. 

All agree that Christ is present in the sacrament 
when it is truly administered and received, the dif- 
ference being this : that, while one party hold that 
he is present bodily, and received by manducation, 
the other hold that he is present spiritually, and re- 
ceived by faith. 

These views, so widely differing, at the very center 
and heart of the Christian system, are unerring in- 
dices to the whole creed of each party. The one is 
the religion of form and of the senses, the other is 
the religion of faith and of the spirit. The latter 
appeals to the Bible, and the Bible alone ; while the 
former finds its oracles in the interpretations of 
councils and of the fathers, and in the multifarious 
and jarring voices of tradition and antiquity. 

Most deeply does every true Christian desire to 
know just what he is to do in this important duty ; 
and back of this inquiry is this other one : Where is 
duty taught ? 

One party says, Give yourself up to the Church, 
and be quiet ; she will teach you. Be passive, and 
hear from the priest the infallible dogmas of the 
Church. The troubles of an unquiet spirit may all 
be laid to rest ; the Church settles every perplexing 
question. You have no right to inquire for your- 
self, nor yet have you the capacity, you laborers and 
clerks, and professional men and artisans. You are 
too busy, and not sufficiently skilled in theology and 
polemics. This life has perplexities enough for you 
to grapple. The Church has been graciously given 



14 Lecture I. 

to relieve you of responsibility in reference to ques- 
tions appertaining to the life which is to come. Be 
docile ; believe what she teaches, and do what she 
commands, and she will stand accountable for your 
safety. What her ministers bind on earth is bound 
in heaven — what they loose here is loosed there. If 
you go to the Bible, you may misunderstand it in 
vital points, and thus err fatally. You have but a 
translation, and know not that it is correct. You 
must know the Greek and Hebrew, with all their 
idioms and peculiarities, to be able to understand 
the Scriptures. But this is the labor of a life-time, and 
you cannot perform it. You need one to guide you. 

The other declares that the Bible, and that alone, 
is the only and sufficient rule of faith and practice. 
Believe the averment of no man, not even an apostle 
— no, nor yet " an angel from heaven " — if it contra- 
dict that Book. You may learn from it yourself, 
even in a translation, the way of life, and the way is 
so plain that " the wayfaring men, though fools, shall 
not err therein." 

These two conflicting theories are before me. I 
must make my choice. Salvation hinges upon it. 
What shall I do ? Suppose I am self-distrustful, and 
indolent, withal. I incline to the former theory, and 
seek tke Churchy that I may intrust the keeping of 
my soul to her. Which, of all the thousand Chris- 
tian organizations, is the one to which I must go ? 
One says. We are the Church, for we have main- 
tained a continuous organization from the apostles 
to the present day. Another says : No, your claim 
is not just — you have not the marks nor characteris- 
tics of the true Church. We are the Church, for we 



Errors of the Papacy. 15 

hold the apostolic doctrine, and have a scriptural 
ministry, and, being known by our fruits, they prove 
our claim. 

Now, at the very threshold of my efforts, I am 
thrown upon my private judgment in matters of re- 
ligion ; and that, too, in reference to a question 
which involves as much perplexity, and as much in- 
vestigation, and requires as sound discretion in its 
solution, as any other one between my starting-point 
and the final goal. If I give up xi\y private judgment 
to the Church, the act will involve this absurdity : 
that, by my private judgment ^ I determine where and 
what the Church is to which I make this enormous 
concession. 

Indeed, I must first decide that there is a religion 
and a Church, and that Christianity is the true re- 
ligion, as well as to elect between contending 
Churches. Having borne the responsibility of de- 
termining for myself these momentous questions, I 
can scarcely hesitate as to the rest. If I had this to 
meet, it is not unreasonable that I should have more. 

Then, who are these men who are so solicitous to 
relieve me of my individuality, and to assume for me 
the responsibilities of an immortal existence, and 
settle my relations with my Maker ? Who are these 
that are seeking to mould my faith and control my 
life, in the name of the Church ? What assurance 
have I that this tremendous power will always be 
wielded with fidelity? If they tell me that all this 
is secured by the promise of Christ to be with them 
always, then do they not, in offering me this proof, 
yield my right of private judgment ? But, that 
aside, has the pure and gentle Christ been always 



i6 Lecture I. 

with their predecessors ? Did the Spirit of the Cru- 
cified ordain the Inquisition and the Auto da Fe ? 

A thousand such questions might be asked, and 
every one would evoke an answer which must drive 
me from this hopeless source of authority for the 
Christian life. 

I must look to the Bible. Can the common man 
find the way of life there ? 

The Bible is essentially the book of the people. It 
is addressed to men at large, and contains no single 
hint that its holy teachings must be interpreted to 
them. " The entrance of Thy word giveth light." 
'' The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the 
soul ; the testimonies of the Lord are sure, making 
wise the simple." " Blessed is he that readeth, and 
they that hear, the words of this prophecy, and keep 
those things which are written therein." 

Peter, to be sure (2 Peter iii, 16), tells us that the 
unlearned and unstable wrest the Scriptures to their 
own destruction. But does he, therefore, forbid the 
reading of God's word ? By no means ; but, in view 
of these guilty examples, warns the Christians against 
their imitation. "Beware (verse 17) lest ye also, 
being led away by the error of such wicked persons, 
fall from your own steadfastness." 

The Scriptures, verily, are wrested ; and not only 
by the unlearned. '' These things " are often "hid 
from the wise and prudent." Willful men, who "re- 
ceive not the love of the truth," do " pervert the 
right ways of the Lord," whether they be "un- 
learned " or "full of all subtilty." But to "babes," 
who, in simplicity and openness of mind, approach 
the sacred oracles, the truth is revealed. 



Errors of the Papacy. 17 

To object that translations of the Holy Scriptures 
are unsafe, is simply puerile cavilling. No one 
discredits translations of other books, which 
are carefully made by competent hands. Even 
a slight error here and there does not impair 
the integrity of the document. The matter 
is fully conveyed to the reader of the translation. 
Certain beauties of style may be lost, and so may 
idiomatic turns of expression. This is inevitable. 
And, in a merely poetical or literary production, the 
loss of certain beauties of style, and of that subtle 
play of volatile meaning, which shows and hides it- 
self among the skillful combinations of language, is 
the penalty of translation. But distinct, essential 
thought never refuses to go into any language. 
History, science, ethics, philosophy, religion, never 
spurn the word-costume of any people. Ideas are 
ready to put on any dress that times and places may 
demand. They are easy and familiar in any. 

Nor is the thought dependent, in the same lan- 
guage, upon a given set of words. Twenty transla- 
tions of a book, with a thousand variations, may yet 
convey, each one, the thought of the original. 

Ignorant, or careless, or prejudiced translators 
may, indeed, mutilate the substance of a book. But 
have they done it with our Bible ? 

Take all the translations of it into our language 
that are ordinarily accessible, and, with large variety 
of style, admire the wonderful consent of meaning. 
Any one of them, '' without note or comment," 
shows the way to the cross. There may be, in some, 
ungainly style, and injurious traces of prejudice, and 
evident ecclesiastical trammel uoon the translator ; 



i8 Lecture I. 

but, in spite of all, the great saving truth will make 
itself articulate. 

As to our common English version, none who 
have taken any pains to know its history can for a 
moment doubt either the competency or the integ- 
rity of those who produced it, nor yet the pains- 
taking solicitude with which they discharged their 
high. duty. Forty-eight men, of large learning in 
the original tongues, parceled into small commit- 
tees, each with its separate portion to translate, 
carefully rendering each sentence and each word, 
and minutely inspecting each other's work, could not 
lail to reproduce the meaning of the text. 

The facts connected with this translation are an 
unquestionable guarantee of its correctness, and the 
unlearned reader rests in the assurance that he has 
the very word of God. 

There are certain prerogatives of learning, indeed, 
of which it can never be despoiled. The highest 
appreciation of the poetic beauty of the original 
Scriptures belongs to classic cultivation. Accuracy 
in dates and places is the wages of untiring study. 
But he who seeks salvation may learn the plain pro- 
cess of its attainment '' in his own tongue in which 
he was born." 

But I am told that the Bible is a book of myster- 
ies — that, aside from the question of translation, it 
is " hard to understand." 

Portions of it, I grant, are so. It speaks of the 
Divine Essence, and of " the ways of God, which are 
past finding out." The interrogatives, how, and 
when, and why, solicit a thousand facts in vain. 
God, angels, devils, and even men ; sin and suffer- 



Errors of the Papacy. 19 

ing, prescience and agency, and other things innu- 
merable, connect themselves with the unknown — 
yet they are subjects of revelation. Yea, verily, and 
he has looked but upon surfaces, and not at all be- 
low them, who has not seen a mystery in the most 
common things. That mind is passing dull that has 
not put questions to a grain of sand which it would 
not answer. 

This class of mysteries is inherent in things, and 
not chargeable upon revelation. Revelation gives 
the /acts, and the mystery is in tkem. 

More than this, much of the prophetic portions of 
the Bible is deeply obscure. The germ of truth 
only is there, and even that is buried in a heavy in- 
folding of symbolical expression, which the widest 
investigation, and the most patient and penetrating 
thought, can scarcely open. Much of the covert 
meaning has, perhaps, never yet been laid bare to 
the eyes of men. 

But mark this : the preceptive and mandatory por- 
tions of the Scriptures are exceeding plain. 

Take, for instance, the moral constitution of the 
Universe, the Decalogue. It is not in the capacity 
of language to be more intelligible. He who is in- 
capable of understanding it may well risk his salvation 
on the plea of imbecility. He is incapable of incur- 
ring condemnation. So of the discourses of Christ, 
and the epistolary writings in the main — indeed, 
wholly, where duty is involved. 

" All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profit- 
able for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, and for instruction 
in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thorough- 
ly furnished unto all good works." 
3 



20 Lecture I. 

Nothing that God does is ill contrived. He is no 
bungler. When he undertakes to supply means to 
certain ends, he finds the very best ; and we have 
his own assurance that the Holy Scriptures are by 
himself intended for this very object, that his people 
may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 

How does it discredit God, when men come in and 
say the means of his selection are imperfect, and 
that tradition, and the fathers, and the decisions of 
councils must come in to supply the imperfection ! 

" The Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto 
salvation," says the apostle. No ! we are boldly 
assured, certain supplementary instructions are re- 
quired ! O ! my brethren, let us not be found fight- 
ing against God ! Let us beware of the consuming 
anathema pronounced against those who ''add to the 
words of the prophecy of this Book !" 

Of course, no one pretends that all men may be- 
come profound theologians. The gradations in 
Scripture knowledge, from the point necessary to 
the Christian life upwards, are indefinite. And the 
common mind, in its efforts to learn divine truth, 
will grow astonishingly. As soon as one truth is 
discovered, another beckons upward in the con- 
stantly ascending series of development, and the 
height is infinite. From the point of highest attain- 
ment, shadowy discoveries, still higher, call to yet 
further effort, and offer a yet nobler reward. And 
so will it be forever and ever. Thus that Book is 
adapted to all. Its teachings reach down to the 
lowest platform of intelligent thought, and up to the 
Infinite. It ''enlightens the eyes" of the dullest, 
and makes them "wise unto salvation," and yet it 



Errors of the Papacy. 21 

opens depths into which " the angels desire to 
look." 

This is the Book of books. It alone conveys un- 
questionable truth to man. It contains the clearest 
manifestation of the mind of God that earth has 
ever received. It is the witness of redemption, the 
rock of faith, the illuminator of the world, the articu- 
late voice of God. It is the testamentary deed of 
salvation, and every heir of God is entitled to a 
copy. Let Scribes and Pharisees be careful how 
they intermeddle. 

If lawyers assume the management of the estate, 
and patronizingly propose to guard the interests of 
the heirs, let every legatee see to it that they be not 
allowed to manage matters too much to their own 
advantage. 

In all that I have said, there is no disparagement 
to the Church. I only insist that it be not allowed 
to go beyond its charter. It has not the function 
of revelation. In reference to divine law, its pre- 
rogative is to administer, not to legislate. It has its 
own high and sacred office — let it assume no other. 

In these lectures, then, the Holy Scriptures alone 
are to determine every point. Every other claim to 
Divine authority is repudiated. Traditions, fathers, 
councils, utter not God's voice, and we cannot hear 
them. They depose, it may be truly, it may be 
falsely. 

In future lectures I will interrogate the Scriptures 
upon the fact, and manner, and object of Christ's 
presence in the Eucharist. 

I shall affect no oracular settlement of abstruse 
questions. I shall attempt no heights where blush- 



22 Lecture I. 

ing angels hesitate. Only so much as maybe essen- 
tial to intelligent obedience and rational faith will 
be sought. 

I demand no implicit confidence in my averments. 
I ask nothing for what I shall say, except, first, that 
respect which is so readily yielded, by all men of 
sense, to extended and careful research ; and, sec- 
ondly, that every one who hears me may go with 
my statements and conclusions to the fountain of 
authority, and test them by that alone. 



Errors of the Papacy. 23 



LECTURE II. 

CHRIST IN THE SACRAMENT — TRANSUBSTANTIA- 
TION TESTED BY SCRIPTURE. 

" These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they 
received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the 
Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." — Acts xvii, ii. 

I READ this Scripture, not for purposes of 
exposition, but as indicating the spirit in which 
I desire these lectures to be received. And, by the 
way, these persons are commended for testing by 
Holy Scripture what they heard. The right of pri- 
vate judgment is made indubitable by this inspired 
approval. 

I shall consider, this evening, the fad and manner 
of Christ's presence in the Sacrament. 

There is scarcely any doctrine more consolatory 
to the true Christian than that of the Saviour's pres- 
ence with him. When assembled for the worship 
of God, with a few of his chosen, what comfort you 
have received, my brethren, from that gracious as- 
surance, " Where two or three are gathered togeth- 
er in my name, there am I in the midst of them." 
To his ministers Jesus said : " Lo, I am with you 
alway, even unto the end of the world." Nor does 
he confine himself to his ministers. " He that lov- 
eth me," so speaks our Lord, '' shall be loved of my 
Father, and I will love him, and will manifest my- 
self to him." '' If a man love me he will keep my 



24 Lecture II. 

words ; and my Father will love him, and we will 
come unto him, and make our abode with him." 
John xvi, 21, 23. To his assembled worshipers, to 
his ministers, and to every man that loves him, Je- 
sus has pledged his perpetual presence. 

Imagine the emotions of the little persecuted 
Church of Smyrna, which had been serving, and suf- 
fering for, an unseen Master, unnoticed in their sor- 
rows, when, all unexpected, a message comes from 
him : " I know thy works, and tribulation, and pov- 
erty, (but thou art rich)." Though unseen, their 
Master was not absent, and what a joy must that 
have been which had its birth in the knowledge that 
he was witness of their suffering and their fidelity ! 
Henceforth tribulation for his sake must be a lux- 
ury, and the loss of all things in his service, the best 
of riches. Let Christ but turn the eye of his com- 
passion upon me, and the pang of death itself is 
turned to rapture. 

Never is the blessed Saviour more eminently pres- 
ent than when his people are gathered around the 
table, in the communion of his body and his blood. 
Never are his followers more conscious of his pres- 
ence than when engaged in that most solemn serv- 
ice. They are within the very shade of Calvary. 
They are in sympathy with the sorrow that broke 
the Saviour's heart. 

The fact of his presence in the Eucharist is de- 
nied by no Christian, and I shall not waste time in 
offering proof of an unchallenged proposition. 

But in what manner is he present — physically or 
spiritually? Is the substance of bread transformed 
into his body, and the substance of wine into his 



Errors of the Papacy. 25 

blood? Is the whole Christ, soul and Godhead, un- 
der the appearance of bread, distributed among the 
communicants, and received and eaten by them ? 
Or is he present in a spiritual manner, and so re- 
ceived by faith ? 

The advocates of transubstantiation insist upon 
the literal rendering of the words of institution — 
"This is my body — this is my blood ; " while the 
advocates of the spiritual presence maintain that the 
language is figurative, that its meaning is simply, 
" This represents my body — this represents my 
blood." 

Now, is there an intelligible method by which the 
common mind may definitely settle this dispute ? 
We shall see. 

On the part of the literalist it is maintained that 
figurative language is necessarily mystical, and of 
doubtful meaning, and that, on such a subject and 
at such a time, our Lord would express himself in 
no dubious terms. That considerations of infinite 
moment prompted him to intelligible statement I 
admit. But that figurative language is of question- 
able import invariably, or that it baffles the under- 
standing of ordinary men, is contrary to fact and 
daily observation. In common conversation men of 
every grade, the cultivated and the uncultivated, are 
almost constantly expressing themselves by figures. 
Take a homely instance. A man undertakes to de- 
scribe a worthless and impracticable fellow, of whom 
no use can be made for valuable ends, and condenses 
a whole paragraph into a pithy figure : " He is a 
crooked stick." No man misunderstandsthat. No 
man can misunderstand it. Why, even children use 



26 Lecture II. 

this species of expression, and understand each other 
perfectly. 

Figurative language has this advantage, that while 
it is often no more liable to misinterpretation than 
literal statement, it conveys a much more lively im- 
pression. It arrests the attention, penetrates the 
mind, and infixes itself in the memory more effectu- 
ally. It combines the qualities of statement, argu- 
ment and illustration. It draws a picture of the 
truth, and hangs it up before the mind. In fact, 
no man makes himself so well and perfectly under- 
stood, or brings his matter so accurately to the 
minds of others, as he who is master of figurative 
speech. 

For this reason it is the most fitting vehicle of 
vital truth. Hence its so frequent use in Scripture, 
as we shall see, in the communication of most essen- 
tial doctrine. Matter that required to be seen, and 
felt, and remembered, was put into this most attract- 
ive shape, and sent upon the mission of enlighten- 
ment and love. There is, then, in the nature of this 
mode of utterance, no reason why it should not have 
been used in the institution of the Sacrament ; but, 
on the contrary, its properties, as given above, indi- 
cate its fitness for that great occasion, above all other 
forms of language. 

It is a canon of interpretation universally accepted, 
that the various parts of any writing are to be under- 
stood in harmony with the whole. Bear this in 
mind as we proceed with the investigation. 

Now, that this language is figurative, is rendered 
highly probable by the fact \\v2X figures of the same 
class and fortn are of frequent recurrence in the 



Errors of the Papacy. 27 

Bible. Take the familiar case of the dream of 
Pharaoh, as interpreted by Joseph. He saw seven 
fat cattle devoured by seven lean ones, and after- 
wards seven full ears of corn consumed by seven 
blasted ears. The seven fat kine are seven years of 
plenty — the seven lean kine are seven years of 
famine — the seven full ears are seven fruitful years 
— the seven blasted ears are seven years of dearth. 
Who makes any difficulty of understanding all this ? 
The child who reads it for the first time needs no 
one to tell him that the cattle and the ears of corn 
of certain descriptions simply represent years of cor- 
responding description. And it is the very figure 
of the eucharistic law — '' This is my body." 

With this single passage from the Old Testament, 
let us come to the New. And that our instances 
may be the more strictly pertinent, we will confine 
our examination to the language of Christ himself: 
" I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
ending, saith the Lord," etc. No one understands 
the first clause of this passage literally. As these 
characters stand one at each extremity of the alpha- 
bet, so Christ embraces all things in the compass of 
his immortal existence. The Alpha and the Omega 
represent his all-comprising nature. 

" I am the root and the offspring of David, and 
the bright and morning star." This text is purely 
figurative, and precisely of the same class with those 
already given. The neuter verb, to be, is put for the 
active verb, to represent. The root from which the 
plant springs represents Christ's relation to David, 
in his divine nature, as the Creator, the source of 
life. In his human nature he is David's offspring. 



28 Lecture II. 

As the " teacher sent from God," he is represented 
by the bright star whose rays mitigate the gloom of 
midnight, and light the traveler in safety along his 
dubiou's way. And the morning star, herald of the 
coming day, expresses, with sublime beneficence, 
the promise which his advent and his resurrection 
give, of a perfect immortality at hand. 

Passing from this book of symbols, the Apocalypse, 
from which these two last passages are taken, let us 
admire the profusion with which just such figures 
are scattered throughout the whole extent of our 
Saviour's teaching during the period of his incar- 
nation. 

In the Sermon on the Mount, the great Teacher 
gives an epitome of Christian ethics. To his dis- 
ciples he says, '' Ye are the light of the world — ye 
are the salt of the earth." Here is our figure again 
— the neuter verb put for the active — to be, signify- 
ing to represent. And if ever plainness and certainty 
of meaning were demanded, it was in this case, when 
he gave the principles which underlie the whole struct- 
ure of his religion. Perspicuity and impressiveness 
were required, and a figurative style, within just 
limits, exactly met the requisition. 

Again, the world stands before the Divine In- 
structor, in the person of its representative, Nico- 
demus. Ignorant humanity waits in his presence 
for words which shall be the key of salvation. The 
words are uttered — and they are figurative — '' Ye 
must be born again." '^ Except a man be born 
again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

At another time. He is passing through Samaria, 
and as he approaches the city of Sychar, coming to 



Errors of the Papacy. 29; 

Jacob's well, he reposes there, while his disciples go 
into the city for the purpose of procuring food. A 
woman comes to the well to draw water, and he 
asks her to give him drink. 

Such was the national animosity between the 
Jews and the Samaritans, that the woman expressed 
her surprise that He should ask of her even so small 
a favor as that. With what compassion Jesus an- 
swered, " If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it 
is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest 
have asked of him, and he would have given thee 
living water." The woman was incredulous, and 
objected that the well was deep, and he had nothing 
to draw with. "Art thou greater," said she, '' than 
our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank 
thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?" 
Jesus replied, '^ Whosoever drinketh of this water 
shall thirst again ; but whosoever drinketh of the 
water that I shall give him shall never thirst ; but 
the water that I shall give him shall be in him a 
well of water springing up into everlasting life." In 
this instance the Saviour instructs a woman, ignorant 
of divine things, in the great principles of his doc- 
trine, and makes water, and the drinking of it, 
represent the saving grace of the Spirit. Water, 
essential to vitality, and refreshing to the famished 
as it is, conveys a most lively idea of the vitalizing 
presence of the Holy Spirit. And I have never 
heard that any one, however dull, understood this 
scripture literally, and supposed that the ^' gift of 
God " was nothing more nor less than the common 
substance, water, a well of which, " springing up," 
was to be located in every believer. 



30 Lecture II. 

But, to be brief, look at the following statements 
of our Saviour : I am the true vine — ye are the 
branches — my Father is the husbandman." 1 am the 
way, the truth and the life." "I am the good shep- 
herd." ^'I am the door; by me if any man enter in, 
he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find 
pasture." 

Now, in view of this array of texts, note the follow- 
ing facts : First, our Lord was in the habit of using 
figurative language. Secondly, he used it on the 
most important occasions, as in his Sermon on the 
Mount, and his discourse to Nicodemus. Thirdly, 
he announced his most important doctrines in this 
way, such as the new birth, the access by himself 
alone into spiritual life, and the conserving influence 
of his people upon the world. Figures were not the 
mere fringes and decorations of his style, but the 
very garments in which his truth appeared. They 
were not the frescoing and cornice-w^ork, but the 
beams and girders of the structure he erected were 
laid in this most expressive style. And, fourthly, a 
very large proportion of his figures are identical with 
that used in the institution of the Eucharist, sup- 
posing it to be one. In nearly all the instances 
cited above, the neuter verb is substituted for the 
active — to be, for to represent. 

Can any man suppose that in the institution of 
his Supper, a memorial of his sufferings, he would 
have used a form of speech which his invariable 
custom had consecrated to figurative use, in a 
literal sense ? Such a departure from his own es- 
tablished usage would have been sure to deceive. 
But when he who had said, " Ye are the light of the 



Errors of the Papacy. 31 

world," '' Ye are the, salt of the earth," " I am the 
way," " I am the vine," " I am the shepherd," " I 
am the door," said again, '^ This bread is my body," 
he intended to be understood just as in former 
cases. The common sense of mankind can never be 
turned aside from this plain view of it. 

And one of the instances given above was part of 
a discourse to the Disciples at the very time when 
the Eucharist was instituted. '' I am the true vine, 
and my Father is the husbandman." John xv, i. In 
a preceding chapter an account of the Supper is 
given, and this is in a conversation that ensued. In 
the brief hours that intervened between the Supper 
and the betrayal, when the echo of the words, ''This 
is my body," had scarcely died, he said, '' I am the 
vine." The later was figurative ; was the former 
literal ? Not one of you believes it, or can be- 
lieve it. 

If this form of expression is necessarily literal, 
then Christ teaches that his kingdom is a material 
edifice, when he says, " 1 am the door ;" and we 
must suppose that he is an opening in the wall, or 
perhaps a door hung on hinges, to admit or obstruct 
ingress and egress. To such extremity must those 
be driven who are obliged, under the fulmination of 
a horrible anathemas, to maintain an unreasonable 
dogma. It would be infinitely easier to maintain it 
among a people who had not been bewitched by 
the right of private judgment. 

But I must call your attention now to a Scripture 
which is most important in this discussion, for two 
reasons : First, it contains this very species of figure 
of which I have said so much ; and, secondly, it is 



32 Lecture II. 

analogous in other respects to the language used in 
the law of the sacrament. Let me urge you to 
turn to the place and read it very carefully. It is in 
John vi, 30, 65. 

In the hope that you will examine for yourselves, 
I ask your attention to what I have to say in refer- 
ence to this important place. 

The Jews, demanding a sign of Jesus, refer him 
to the miracle of the manna, on which their fathers 
fed in the desert, conveying the intimation that 
some such divine vindication of his claim was requi- 
site. He at once informs them that not Moses, but 
God, gave them the bread, '' For my Father giveth 
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of 
God is he which cometh down from heaven, ajid 
giveth life unto the worlds He said, on more than 
one occasion, '' I am the life ! " Here he declares 
that he gives life to the world — the same thought 
— alluding to the fact that the life of the ancient 
Hebrews was preserved in the desert by manna, or 
bread from heaven. As that was sent for their 
physical life, so he came to give spiritual life to 
men. He then immediately proceeds to show 
(verse 35) how this life may be secured. *' He 
that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that 
believeth on me shall never thirst." The same thing 
is reiterated twice in the succeeding verses (verses 

37. 40.) 

But the Jews " murmured at him because he said, 
I am the bread which came down from heaven." 
Verse 41. Then he renewed with great emphasis 
the reiteration of the great truth that the life he 
came to give was to be received by coming to him 



Errors of the Papacy. 33 

— hy faith. Verses 44, 45, 47. " He that believeth on 
me, hath everlasting life.'' Having thus repeatedly 
and with emphasis guarded them against a gross 
literal interpretation of his words, he returns to the 
forcible and expressive figure : '' I am that bread of 
life," (Verse 48.) Having secured the figurative in- 
terpretation, he proceeds to give the figure in the 
boldest manner, to render it the more deeply impress- 
ive. Verses 50 to 58. "■ Except ye eat the flesh and 
drink the blood of the Son of man, ye have no life in 
you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my 
blood hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at 
the last day." (Compare this with verse 40, *' And 
this is the will of him that sent me, that every one 
which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may 
have everlasting life ; and I will raise him up at the 
last day." This shows the identity of the meaning 
in the words eating and believing, as used in this 
discourse. Of course, the term eating is figurative.) 
His auditors, however, persisted in being offended 
at his language. The eating of his flesh, and drink- 
ing of his blood, was to them a '' hard saying." 
Jesus seemed almost indignant at the perverseness 
of their understanding. ''What," said he, ''and if 
ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was 
before ? " Do you suppose I intend to parcel my 
body out among you to be literally eaten ? No, 
verily, it shall go intact to heaven. I am not talk- 
ing literally about eating flesh. " It is the spirit 
that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing ; the 
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and 
they are life." Verse 63. Thus he closed with a 
formal and solemn repudiation of a literal interpre- 



34 Lecture II. 

tation of this peculiar language, and fixed forever its 
spiritual and vital import. 

It is not at all surprising to me that our friends, 
who desire to establish the literal import of these 
passages, should also desire to withdraw the Script- 
ures from the private judgment of mankind, and 
secure a monopoly of interpretation for themselves. 
This place requires a world of interpreting to make 
it appear that the flesh of Jesus is literally to be 
eaten. If I desired to induce the people to believe 
that^ I should follow their example, I am sure. I 
should want the interpreting all in my own hands. 
But it is too late. The spark of thought that Luther 
struck, more than three hundred years ago, has 
kindled a flame that can never be extinguished. 

You will observe that the form of this figure is 
the same which we have found so often in the Sav- 
iour's teaching, and the same that he used at the 
Last Supper. " I am that bread." And again, that 
the matter is analogous, he represents himself by 
bread in both places. We have seen that, in this 
place, he expressly gives his language a figurative or 
spiritual meaning. Is it possible, then, that in the 
other it is to be understood literally or physically ? 

One other remark in reference to this passage, and 
I dismiss it. If you will take the pains to compare 
it with the conversation with the woman of Samaria, 
already cited, you will discover a striking parallel, 
both in the matter and language of the two places, 
water being the basis of the figure there and bread 
here. 

At this point the argument stands thus: our Lord 
habitually used this form of speech in a figurative 



Errors of the Papacy. 35 

way ; he used it in this way on the most important 
occasions, and for communicating the most im- 
portant matters ; he used it in this figurative way 
in reference to matters strictly analogous to the 
eucharistic institution ; and finally he used it in this 
way in a conversation just after the sacramental 
Supper. All the surrounding facts, then, point, with 
unbroken consent, to the figurative character of the 
language used on that solemn occasion. 

Now let us examine the passages in which the 
institution is given, and question them directly as 
to their import. 

In the first place, take into account the occasion 
on which the sacrament was instituted. Christ was 
celebrating, with his disciples, the feast of the Pass- 
over. You are familiar with the history of that 
feast. It was commemorative — and that of an event 
which prefigured the shedding of Christ's blood, 
and its happy result to his people. The paschal 
lamb was not reproduced, but the paschal scene was 
recalled. 

So the disciples, taking the hint from this, would 
understand that the passion of Christ was commem- 
orated in the Supper which he then established. If 
there had been any doubt of this, his words con- 
firmed it : " This do in remembrance of me." This 
bread is to be broken, and this wine poured out, to 
recall the breaking of my body, and the shedding 
of my blood. 

If Christ is reproduced^ he is not remembered^ and 
his words — '* This do in remembrance of me " — have 
no significance. If he is reproduced and eaten, he 
is received, and not recalled. 



36 Lecture II. 

Another fact which we find in the words of insti- 
tution is this : that Matthew and Mark give the 
words in reference to the wine — " This is my blood 
of the new testament ;" while Luke gives them 
thus — " This is the new testament in my blood." 
Now, if the words are literal, then there is a contra- 
diction between Luke and the other two evangel- 
ists; for the blood of Christ, and the new testament 
in his blood, are difterent things. But, on the con- 
trary, the figurative interpretation covers both state- 
ments, for the wine represents both the blood and 
the new testament established in it. 

So, you see, the language, interpreted in its own 
light, is unquestionably figurative. 

If anything can add to the certainty of the result 
already arrived at, it is the fact that the inspired 
writers of the New Testament, with one accord, so 
far as they speak on the subject, depose against tran- 
substantiation. See Acts ii, 46, and xx, 7. If tran- 
substantiation were true, the substance received and 
eaten in the Eucharist is not bread, but the flesh of 
Christ. But the sacred historian calls it bread. 

See also i Cor. x, 16, and xi, 23, 29. Here you 
discover the same fact, the substance eaten is not 
the body of Christ, but bread. '' For as often as ye 
eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the 
Lord's death until he come." 

Perhaps I have wearied you with proofs. I will 
forbear. Enough has been said for the present. 
You have your Bibles. Be thankful for the boon, 
and search them " whether these things are so." 



Errors of the Papacy. 37 



I 



LECTURE III. 

IS TRANSUBSTANTIATION A MIRACLE? 
I speak as to wise men ; judge ye what I say." — i CoR. x, 15. 

HAVE endeavored to secure in these lectures, 
as they follow each other, some sort of logical 
sequence. It was appropriate to establish, in the 
first place, the right of private judgment, and the 
sole authority of Scripture in the settlement of ques- 
tions of this description. This done, we invested 
the fortress of transubstantiation, the literal inter- 
pretation of the words — " This is my body." Now, 
let us approach the question, '' Is transubstantiation 
a miracle r 

The theory is, that between the time when the 
bread goes into the hands of the priest, and the time 
when it reaches the lips of the communicant, an en- 
tire change of the substance takes place, so that that 
which is received and eaten is the very person of 
Christ. The idea is in the word — transubstantiation 
— passing or being changed from one substance to 
another. 

For the purpose of reducing the discussion to an 
intelligible analysis, I will state the following truism : 
this supposed change is either a fact or a fiction. 

If it be a fact^ then it is either a natural process 
or a miracle. 

Is it a natural process? Is the supposed result 



38 Lecture III. 

produced by any of the ordinary methods in which 
nature works? 

In the regular course of events thsre are instances 
of the transmutation of substances. Is this one of 
those instances? Let us see. 

In nature such changes occur only under vital or 
chemical agency. There is, I believe, no third 
method. In every instance they are the result of 
either the one or the other of these forces. 

Vital forces do their work upon animated exist- 
ence — plants and animals. Every minute fibrous 
root embedded in the soil is hunting up such parti- 
cles as it may find available, appropriating and pre- 
paring them, and sending them along up the stem 
and into every branch, that they may be assimilated 
and appear in new combinations — and, in fact, an- 
other substance results. Similar appropriation and 
assimilation, under other conditions, sustain animal 
life and produce animal growth. 

In chemistry, contact of various substances with 
mutual repulsions or affinities produces new com- 
binations, the result being a new substance. 

Now note the following facts : i. In none of these 
changes does the whole substance of one body so 
change as to become another substance and another 
body. To effect the change, several substances 
must be disorganized, and their elements wrought 
into the resulting substance. 

Any apparent exception to this, as the petrifac- 
tion of wood, is easily accounted for. In this case 
there is an absorption of stony substances held in 
solution, along with a gradual decay and displace- 
ment of the woody fibre, so that at last the stone is 



Errors of the Papacy. 39 

formed into the shape of the wood, and so remains. 
There is no change of one substance into another. 

2. Every such change affects forms and appear^ 
ances as much as it does substances. 

3. No substance of one class is ever changed into 
a substance of another class ; but, in every instance, 
changes in mere matter result, not in a spiritual sub- 
stance, but in a material one. 

These three facts are universally predicable of the 
transubstantiations of nature, but not one of them is 
predicable of the transubstantiation of theologians. 
In it one whole body is changed into the substance 
of another whole body without any disorganization. 
In it there is no change of forms or appearances. 
In it matter becomes spirit, for the soul and divinity 
are part of the new substance. 

Then it is neither a vital nor chemical change ; 
and, belonging to neither of these classes, it is not 
a process of nature, for, as we have seen, these are 
the only methods in which changes of substance oc- 
cur in nature. 

If transubstantiation be a fact, then, it is a miracle, 
and the question is narrowed down to this : Is tran- 
substantiation a miracle or a fiction ? One or the 
other it must be. 

Let us then candidly try its claims as a miracle. 

And, in order to understand ourselves, let us as- 
certain what miracles are. If we enter upon our in- 
quiry under a mistake here, it will vitiate the entire 
process of the examination. 

Miracles are distinguished from other occurrences 
by the method of their production. Not that the di- 
vine agency is any more direct in them than in oth- 



40 Lecture III. 

er occurrences, but it is exerted in a different way, 
and in such a way as to be more readily recognized. 
In nature we are accustomed to see one thing suc- 
ceed another in unvarying sequence, until we regard 
one as cause and another effect, and lose sight of 
God, whose supreme efficiency only takes those shapes 
for wise purposes. 

But when events fall out so that we see no cause, 
we at once assign it to divine agency ; especially if 
they be identical with events which we have been 
accustomed to see take their place in the sequence 
of nature, or such as nature never produces ; as 
when disease is instantaneously removed without 
remedies, which is a disregard of natural sequences ; 
or when the dead are raised, which is a natural im- 
possibility. By natural process disease is some- 
times removed, but, in the case of miracles, the re- 
sult is reached without the process. But in raising 
the dead, miracles do what nature never did. In 
both cases the human mind is so constituted as to 
see the work of God in the result. 

Miracles, then, are a class of facts that stand out 
alone, constituting a chapter in the history of the 
universe by themselves. They appear now and 
then, in the progress of events, as God's witnesses. 
The world becomes forgetful of the Creator, and 
denies him, and he summons miracles, and puts 
them on the stand to testify of him. 

In miracles such changes as that under discussion 
do take place ; that is, the change of substances — as" 
when Moses' rod was changed into a serpent, and 
when Christ turned water into wine at the marriage 
in Cana. 



Errors of the Papacy. 41 

How shall we ascertain whether this supposed 
change of bread into the body, and soul, and deity 
of Christ is a miracle, and, therefore, a fact, or not ? 
Evidently by ascertaining the characteristics of mir- 
acles, and whether this assumed change exhibits 
those characteristics. 

1. Miracles are of rare occurrence, and appear 
only on extraordinary occasions. They have at- 
tended the great eras of the history of redemption. 
If they were of constant occurrence, they would 
cease to carry with them the force of miracles. 
They would lose their significance in a measure. 

It devolves on those who maintain the present ex- 
istence of miracles, to prove it by their production. 
The fact is significant that the miracles of our day 
are always remote. They never happen in our 
neighborhood — at least not in public. The miracles 
of the Bible were performed before men, and in the 
presence of enemies and revilers. 

The first characteristic of miracles — that of unfre- 
quency — does not belong to transubstantiation. 

2. The immediate object of miracles was the in- 
dorsement of some divine messenger or doctrine. 

Those which Moses wrought were designed to se- 
cure him credit, first in the government of Egypt, to 
secure the release of the Hebrews ; and secondly, 
with the Hebrews themselves, so that he should be 
received as their leader and lawgiver. Some of the 
prophets demonstrated their divine mission by the 
same means. 

That the miracles of the New Testament have the 
same object, is shown by our Saviour himself, in the 
second chapter of Mark. A helpless paralytic lay 



42 Lecture III. 

before him, to whom he said — ^' Son, thy sins be for- 
given thee.'* Certain Scribes, who were present, ac- 
cused him in their minds of blasphemy, for "who," 
said they, " can forgive sins but God only? " Jesus 
admitted the truth of the proposition, that none 
could forgive sins but God, and, to convince them 
that he enjoyed that divine prerogative, proceeded to 
perform a divine work in their presence. " Wheth- 
er is it easier," said he, " to say to the sick of the 
palsy. Thy sins be forgiven, or to say, Arise and 
walk ? But that ye may know that the Son of man 
hath power on earth to forgive sins (he said to the 
sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee Arise and take up 
thy bed and walk." Instantly every paralyzed nerve 
resumed its functions, and the shriveled and half- 
dead muscles rounded into freshness and vigor, and 
the full tide of vitality came back. Here was a 
work performed which confessedly belonged to di- 
vine power. He who can wield that power may 
also claim a divine prerogative. He who, in his 
own name and by his own power, can perform a 
miracle can also forgive sin. 

For the same purpose, the apostles were endowed 
with the gift of miracles. The New Testament rev- 
elation was committed to them, and it was need- 
ful to establish their authority in so grave a matter 
by divine interposition. Accordingly they wrought 
miracles, in the name of Christ. 

3. The third characteristic of miracles which I 
shall mention is, the fact that the changes wrought 
extended to forms and appearances, as well as sub- 
stances. They were their own witnesses, and needed 
none to testify for them. When Moses' rod was 



Errors of the Papacy. 43 

turned into a serpent, it appeared to be a serpent. 
And so of all the rest. Now the assumed miracle of 
transubstantiation wants these two last characteris- 
tics of miracles. It -proves nothing, for the reason 
that there is no change of appearance accompany- 
ing the change of substance, to show to spectators 
that the latter had taken place. 

Transubstantiation neither serves the purpose, 
nor wears the aspect, of a miracle. We need not, 
therefore, hesitate to say it is no miracle. If it is a 
miracle, it is the greatest of them all. A pathway 
has been opened through the sea, over which millions 
have gone dry shod. Bread from heaven, fresh ev- 
ery morning, except on the Sabbath, fed a nation 
forty years. The eyes of the blind have been 
opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Lep- 
ers have been healed, devils cast out, and the dead 
raised to life. But of all these transcendent works, 
not one of them matches that assumed in transub- 
stantiation. Not one approaches it. The substance 
was once bread ; behold ! now it is not flesh and 
blood alone — it is endowed with soul and divinity. 
The priest pronounces words upon the bread, and in 
an instant it is invested with deity ! No prophet, 
nor apostle, nor Moses, nor the Son of God, ever 
achieved a work like that. 

But, to crown the wonder, it is accompanied by 
no change of appearances. All miracles of smaller 
pretensions were apparent. What if the Syrian lep- 
er, after bathing seven times in the Jordan, had 
brought back a crusty, brittle, leprous skin to the 
prophet, and received the calm, oracular assurance 
that he was healed ? His consciousness would have 



44 Lecture III. 

contradicted the pretender, and he would have gone 
away, indeed, in " a great rage." But his flesh re- 
ceived the delightful sensations of health, and his skin 
returned to all its former pliancy and softness, and 
there was no need that the prophet should certify his 
cure. What if Jesus, at the grave of his friend, had 
said, " Lazarus, live," and the cold, closed eye had 
not opened, nor the ghastly face rekindled, nor the 
rigid limbs moved ; and, turning to the sorrowing 
sisters, had said, " Dry your tears now, Lazarus 
lives ! " What a mockery of sorrow had that been ! 
But under this potent word, " Come forth," the dead 
man stirred at once ; and, before amazement could 
give way to thought, their living brother was in their 
arms. 

Indeed, in all the history of Bible miracles, there 
is not an exception. The prophet had never to 
proclaim his performance. Like every other mate- 
rial fact, it was there to speak for itself. It was its 
own witness. 

But these men who change bread into flesh when 
the thing is done have yet to notify spectators of 
the fact. The substance was bread at first, and it 
looked like bread. Now, they tell us it is the body 
of Christ ; but still it looks just as it did before, like 
bread. There it lies, exactly as it was when the 
priest began on it. 

'■'■ The whole Christ, human and divine, is there," 
he tells me. I must examine a little more closely, 
lest my eyes deceive me, and I be led thereby to 
doubt the good man's word. I will feel it. No bet- 
ter; it feels like bread — hard, unyielding. There is 
no muscular tissue here. Let me break it. I find 



Errors of the Papacy. 45 

no ligaments, no membranes, no organs, no bones. 
It breaks just like bread. I will taste it. The pal- 
ate pronounces it bread. So far from any indication 
of intelligence or divinity, there is none even of the 
presence of flesh. 

And yet I am required, in spite of the report of 
every one of my senses to the contrary, to believe 
that this substance is very Christ. The Church re- 
quires it of me, on pain of damnation ! Then the 
Church makes infinitely more exorbitant demands 
of me than my Maker ever did. God never required 
a man to contradict the evidence of his own senses. 
Never ! Miracles have contravened the ordinary 
sequences of nature, but they have taken the same 
position in reference to sensation and recognition 
by man that ordinary facts occupy. 

When the Church ventures upon such superlative 
presumption, a man's own soul, the inalienable con- 
sciousness of his own nature, coerces rebellion. The 
Bible commands it. And, thus supported, I can 
afford to stand against decrees of councils, and dare 
all the thunders of the " seven hills." 

The nature of substances involves shapes and ap- 
pearances ; and the body of our blessed Lord, wher- 
ever it is seen, will report its essence truly. When 
questioned by sensation, in reference to its own na- 
ture, it will not say '' bread," and leave it to the 
priest to correct the answer. If ever you see the 
Lord, you will not mistake him for a wafer. Read 
the gorgeous description of his glorified person in 
the first chapter of Revelation. 

'' But it is a mystery:" No, sir, it is no mystery. 

The mysterious lies beyond the boundary of ob- 



4^ Lecture III. 

servation. Many of its facts jut over Into the region 
of perception and observation, but they are always 
partly hid in the region of shadows beyond. The 
most familiar facts are connected with processes, and 
stand in relations that reach out into the unknown. 
And there is the mystery. 

Nothing is more definitely surveyed, nor more 
distinctly marked, than the boundary between the 
mysterious and the absurd. Mysteries are above our 
reason, but they never contradict it. It is the na- 
ture of absurdity to contradict facts and reason, and 
even itself. 

The relation of the senses to substances, as to the 
fact^ is a thing well known. Universal conscious- 
ness proclaims it invariable, and no contradiction of 
it can be allowed shelter under the convenient pre- 
text of mysteriousness. Mystery occupies another 
region, and performs a different office. It is not 
found fighting against facts, but, like all else that is 
true^ is at peace and in alliance with them. 

By every consideration drawn from reason, and 
from the uniform precedents of revelation, we de- 
mand of those who pretend miracles to show us the 
miracle. The prophets would have been ridiculous 
without such manifestation of their power. Jesus 
himself made no demand of human belief beyond 
the manifest testimony of his works. He asked no 
man to give credit to a miracle until the miracle it- 
self had been seen. 

Thus is transubstantiation outlawed in the do- 
minions of nature and of miracles. The natural and 
the supernatural conspire to ostracise it ; facts dis- 
own it ; the universe affords it but one asylum, and 



Errors of the Papacy. 47 

that is in mistaken creeds and misguided imagi- 
nations. 

Transubstantiation is not a fact. The sole alter- 
native must then be taken — it is a fiction. 

It is not my business to arraign the motives of 
those who hold this dogma. It is not simply gen- 
erous, it is but fair, to hold every man sincere until 
he is proven otherwise. Every man's motives are 
between himself and his God only. / am glad of 
it. Motives have nothing to do with this discussion. 
If a man is sincere in error, that fact changes not 
the character of the error to me ; it is not the less 
pestilent for that reason. It is my business to find 
the error out, and shun it. 

We are too apt to transfer our feelings toward an 
error to the person who holds it. This is wrong; 
it is injurious. Let us never be bitter ; let us culti- 
vate the tenderest regard and concern for those who 
are led astray. If the erroneous doctrine be absurd, 
or even ridiculous, we are not thereby dispensed 
from charity. Let us imitate, in our humble way, 
the largeness of our Saviour's compassion, and strive 
to save, not to repel, the erring. 

But our charity must not lead us into fellowship 
with error. In the deep soul must be fostered a 
sensitive repugnance toward every untrue thing. 
When our banner is given to the breeze in the stern 
battle of life and of faith, let it bear high the motto, 
*' Buy the truth, and sell it not." 

Is the actual Christ produced from bread? Is he 
eaten by his people ? If these are truths, I must 
have them. I can't afford to lose a single truth 
within my reach. Is this wondrous change a verity ? 



48 Lecture III. 

I question the Bible, and the Bible denies it. I 
ask nature, and she repudiates it. Miracles refuse 
to keep it company ; the senses proclaim it a fiction ; 
reason acquiesces in the verdict ; and faith, guided 
by this array of princely witnesses, refuses its sanctu- 
ary. 

In proportion to the haughtiness of its claims 
must be the emphasis of its repudiation. It claims 
the first pre-eminence among the miracles ; common 
sense awards it that high rank among the sad delu- 
sions that mar the history of Faith. 



Errors of the Papacy. 49 



LECTURE IV. 

RATIONAL AND SCRIPTURAL OBJECTIONS TO THE 
DOCTRINE OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth ; It is expedient for you that I 
go away : for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; 
but if I depart, 1 will send him unto you." — John, xvi. 7. 

I APPEAR before you, this evening, to offer vari- 
ous rational and scriptural objections to the 
doctrine of Transubstantiation. In doing so, I at 
least avoid the inconsistency of at once denying and 
conceding your right to determine questions of this 
character. I do not first demand of you the recep- 
tion of all that I may dictate in the name of my 
Church, and then proceed to the most laborious 
argumentation to convince you of the truth of my 
dogmas in detail. 

Are rational objections legitimate in the investi- 
gation of religious questions? This question well 
deserves our most serious consideration. 

The office of reason, in matters of religion, will be 
apparent, I think, upon some careful investigation. 
To this investigation I invite you now. Examine 
my statements. If they are not correct, reject them. 
Criticise my conclusions. If they are not inevitable, 
renounce them. 

Reason is the endowment which renders man the 
subject of revelation. Without it he would be utterly 
incapable of revelation. 



50 Lecture IV. 

And this fact involves another: that, in the recep- 
tion of revelation, the reason must be active. For 
a man must determine, first, whether any given com- 
munication claiming to come from God does actu- 
ally proceed from that source or not. Having set- 
tled that, the reason is called upon then to settle 
the meaning of the terms in which the communica- 
tion is made. Nor does it change the fact, if we 
suppose the Church to be the organ of communica- 
tion. The communication must be understood, or 
else nothing is revealed ; but the understanding of 
a proposition requires, in a greater or less degree, 
the exercise of the reason. 

In the wider sense of the term, the reason includes 
the understanding. It is the capacity to know, to 
appreciate and use truth. But, even in its narrower 
and technical application, as contradistinguished 
from the understanding, it is involved in the recep- 
tion of revelation. For the reason must appreciate 
the character, and make the application of truth. 
So that, in any view of the facts, there must be rea- 
son, and the exercise of reason, in the recipient of 
revelation. 

To deny, then, the use of reason in matters of 
religion is to take away the very fact which makes 
man capable of religion. Thus religion would be 
made impossible to man. 

The rational recognition and appreciation of di- 
vine truth and divine claims accompany every act 
of piety, unless, indeed, blind, unthinking impulse 
is the ground of acceptable service to God. Your 
horse is incapable of religion, because he is not 
endowed with the requisite intelligence ; you are 



Errors of the Papacy. 51 

capable of it, because you enjoy that noble endow- 
ment. 

It is certainly true that human reason is liable to 
error, and that it does often fall into gross error in 
most important matters. Yet, within certain limits, 
reason is infallible. It never mistakes axiomatic 
truths. It is capable of wielding mathematical com- 
binations and proofs with absolute certainty. Many 
palpable qualities, conditions, and relations of things 
are fully within our grasp. A large class of conse- 
quences may be readily connected with invariable 
antecedents. Within these limits reason walks firmly, 
and rarely or never stumbles. But beyond them 
reason becomes conjecture, and gropes in the dark, 
and guesses, and blunders, and is lost. 

Is religion within these limits ? Partly within and 
partly beyond them. In those aspects of it which 
require to be decided upon, and acted upon — in 
those aspects in which human responsibility is in- 
volved — it is accessible to the understanding and 
the reason, while, in many of its facts and aspects, 
it is infinitely above them. It offers a plane of truth 
level with our understanding, and then again it pre- 
sents pinnacles and heights of thought on which the 
sturdiest intellect turns dizzy. 

Nothing is more certain than that the mind is in- 
capable either of educing from itself, or ascertaining 
from nature, those truths which are denominated 
religious. The existence of God, and our relations 
to him, as well as the law by which he governs us — 
the fact of our immortality, and the relation of this 
life to that which is to come — the result of actions 

upon character, and of character upon destiny — are 
4 



52 Lecture IV. 

facts which are either determined by the will of 
God, or lie beyond the reach of our observation, and 
so, to be known at all, must be revealed. 

It is not the province of reason to construct a 
system of religion, but to receive and put to use 
the revelation which God may choose to make. And 
that it will be called into active service in both these 
respects will be apparent in the following cases : — 

At the threshold of life a man is about deciding 
for himself the great question of his being, in the 
selection of religion. Christianity invites him on 
the one hand, and Mohammedanism on the other. 
It will not do for the Christian to say, " I come with 
divine authority — my religion is from God." The 
Moslem sets up the very same claim. He, too, 
comes in the name of God. " There is no God but 
God, and Mohammed is his prophet." Now, here 
are two contradictory religions before the bewil- 
dered seeker of truth, the representative of each 
making his appeal upon assumed divine authority. 
What is he to do? Prima facie, the one is as good 
as the other. '* Gentlemen, I demand the facts on 
which you base the claims of your respective relig- 
ions. Give me your proofs, that I may know whether 
the claim of either one of you is just, and if so, which 
one. You are both men, and as men are sometimes 
hypocrites and sometimes fanatics, I can't believe you 
on your mere word. At any rate you contradict 
each other, and one or the other must depose falsely. 
I must have the facts, and decide from themy 

It is absolutely impossible for the minister of 
Christ, in this case, to relieve the man of his re- 
sponsibility. He is shut up to the investigation. 



Errors of the Papacy. 53 

God recognized this fact in the human mind and 
condition, and provided for it in the revelation of 
his will. He always sent facts along with his mes- 
sages, to herald them and open a way for them 
into the human mind and belief. These facts are 
to be examined, and their relation to the message 
ascertained, and the pertinency of their testimony 
discovered, by the reason. 

To this task the reason is competent, and God 
and necessity compel the performance of it. In the 
case given above, the Christian is preceded by no 
ecclesiastical prestige, and sustained by no recog- 
nized divine sanction, to the man who is in poise 
between the Son of God and the false prophet. To 
him the character of the organization which the 
Christian calls '' the Church " is still undetermined. 
To facts he must appeal — facts within the capacity 
of his reason. By their testimony he is obliged to 
make up his verdict. 

This task performed, the truth of Christianity es- 
tablished, the neophyte has not yet reached a posi- 
tion where he may lay his reason by, and float upon 
the unobstructed current of truth to the haven of 
his hopes. Conflicting creeds assail him, all claim- 
ing to contain the Christian truth. Now, he has 
first to determine where and what the infallible ar- 
biter of all these questions is ; and then to obtain^ 
and understand^ and reduce to practice the decisions 
of that arbiter. And whether the Church or the 
Bible be that arbiter, affects not this argument. 

If such is the human reason that within these lim- 
its its decisions are obliged to be erroneous in a 
multitude of cases, then God has provided so that 



54 Lecture IV. 

that multitude is doomed to inevitable misbelief. 
Compelled to decide questions of immortal destiny 
by the use of their reason, and yet that reason in- 
capable of the task, their condition is indeed deplor- 
able. Depend upon it, the good Father has not 
placed his helpless children in such a hopeless case. 
He has made us capable of knowing the truth which 
he has given to guide us to himself. In other words, 
he has given the terms of salvation so plainly that 
no one need to miss the way. 

That men do err in vital matters is undeniable. 
That reason is misused, and that to fatal extremity, 
is a lamentable fact. But this is not the only facul- 
ty that men abuse to their own destruction. Like 
all the other faculities, it was bestowed for good 
ends, and like the others, it is perverted by depraved 
men to most disastrous uses. 

The appetites were benevolently given for enjoy- 
ment in a lower sphere, and mainly for purposes 
of nutrition and the support of life. How often 
are they perverted to beastliness, and made the 
ministers of disease and death ! Is every man, 
therefore, to have a guardian and a nurse appointed, 
to apportion him just such food as shall serve for 
life and health ? 

So, also, the passions were appointed to good 
offices, and, rightly directed, within just bounds, 
are the surest safeguard of the soul. But, alas ! too 
frequently do these sentinels turn traitors and become 
themselves our most malignant and successful foes. 

Even the affections, whose pure buddings are 
divinely beautiful, and whose full, unsullied bloom 
yields most delightful fragrance in the garden of 



Errors of the Papacy. si 

God, degenerate in human hearts until they spread 
a Upas bHght on every hand. In their design they 
were the source of all the delightful amenities of 
social life, the perennial fountain of home felicities, 
and the heart's rich incense which goes up, '* a 
sweet smelling savor," to God himself. But in the 
every-day world-life how blighted and corrupted, 
how sensuous, carnal, besotted ! The incense be- 
comes a stench in the Maker's nostrils. 

Beyond our sight, beyond our knowledge, beyond 
our reason, lies the domain of the imagination. It 
has been complimented with the freedom of the 
universe. It makes its own creations — ideal worlds 
— to its own taste. How might its recreations min- 
ister to every good desire ! How do they feed every 
unholy lust ! 

In all these capacities there is a direct relation to 
religion, and their degeneracy and misdirection im- 
pair human character, and compromise human safety, 
as really as the abuse of reason does. And reason 
is no more frequently nor any more fatally mis- 
directed than they. 

Man goes wrong. In his appetites, in his pas- 
sions, in his affections, in his imagination, in his 
reason, he goes wrong. But these are all high 
trusts committed to him by his Maker, and he is ac- 
countable for them. At his own peril he abuses 
the fearful power which he enjoys to do wrong. 

The same safeguard which God has established in 
the case of the other faculties, he has also given to 
the reason : we are responsible for its right use. 
Retribution stands in every divergent path, to drive 
it back into the right way. 



56 Lecture IV. 

Men know, or at least may know, if they will be 
humble and take time to think, the point where reason 
can pilot them no farther. Sometimes, indeed, they 
become reckless and follow on and on, blind, be- 
wildered and exposed. See the adventurous boy, 
already on the upper branches of that tree. Where 
he is he is safe ; another advance will be hazardous. 
Tempted by rich clusters of luscious fruit, and urged 
by the wayward daring of his boyish spirit, he steps 
out upon a remoter limb. It breaks. Gravitation 
asserts its inexorable supremacy. A hundred feet 
of augmenting downward impulsion, and the tragedy 
is complete. You may be sure that mother earth 
offers no very pliant breast for his reception. 

With no more discretion, and with a daring yet 
more reprehensible, proud, self-reliant men will per- 
sist in going where they choose. Beyond the point 
of Divine instruction and support, the slender twigs 
of reason break. They fall, and upon no bed of 
down. They fall— it is the penalty of rashness. 

John Venture climbed too high, and fell. Shall 
all the other boys in the world give up the use of 
their limbs entirely? Rev. Erastus Reckless rea- 
soned himself, by subtle sophistry, into skepticism. 
Shall all other men surrender their reason, and give 
the responsibility of their faith up to some self-con- 
stituted guardian ? Common sense replies. Boys 
must use their limbs, and men their reason. Let 
them take warning from the disasters of rashness, 
and use their God-given powers with prudence. 

The Divine inspiration of the Scriptures is admit- 
ted by all who feel any interest in this discussion. 
A statement definitely and plainly given in that 



Errors of the Papacv. • 57 

Book is, therefore, to be received devoutly, and con- 
formed to with conscientious exactness. But an 
assumed doctrine of revelation, which we find not 
so stated in the Bible, is legitimately subjected to 
the- test of comparison with well-known facts. 

That no two truths contradict each other, is a 
proposition which at once establishes itself in the 
mind with the authority of an axiom. The doctrine 
of transubstantiation, resting on the credit of the 
men who hold it, and on th.Q.\v strained and unnatural 
interpretations of scripture, demands of us sober ex- 
amination in the light of axiomatic principles. If 
it should be found palpably to contradict them, un- 
supported as it is by Divine sanction, we are obliged 
to discard it. 

A week ago I had occasion to notice the fact that, 
while all the miracles of the Bible were such as 
could be recognized by familiar appearances, the 
assumed change in the sacramental element has no 
such advantage. Appearances are all against it. 
A somewhat more extended examination of this 
fact, in other aspects, is demanded here. Take the 
following proposition : — 

Phenomena are the divinely appointed indicators 
of substances. 

1. This truth is the basis of science. 

2. It is the basis of religious faith. 

Nothing can be settled in natural science except 
by phenomenal tests. 

There is, and can be, no certainty in scientific 
observation and experiment, unless it be true that 
phenomena are essential and invariable qualities of 
substances. Every substance must have its own 



58 Lecture IV. 

phenomena, and they must accompany it always and 
everywhere, or else we can know nothing of sub- 
stances at all. They are the only voices by which 
essential being speaks to us. If you convince me 
once that they are unreliable, I can know nothing, I 
can believe nothing. It was from this point that 
the so-celebrated doubting philosopher took his de- 
parture, and drifted on, in the most logical way, to 
a point where he could see no certainty, but doubted 
everything — even his own existence. At last, I be- 
lieve, he doubted whether his doubts were doubts. 
And, though a bad philosopher, he was a good lo- 
gician ; his conclusions had legitimate maternity in 
his premises. 

What has the chemist gained by a thousand ex- 
periments, if appearances deceive him — if where 
there is a repetition of phenomena there may turn 
out to have been no repetition of facts? His an- 
alyses are good for nothing, for they depend upon 
appearances. So of the physiologist. So even of 
the mathematician ; for how does he know that the 
spaces he measures, the shapes he analyzes, are true 
indications of quantities and numbers ? 

But the soul knows better. And every man rests 
in the assurance that things give no deceptive report 
of themselves to the senses. We make our calcula- 
tions on this fact, and live by it. The truth is, that 
phenomena are simply the impressions which sub- 
stances make on sensation, and thus on the mind. 
Therefore, the invariableness of phenomena is not 
arbitrary arrangement, but an essential fact. The 
same substance acting upon the same sense, under the 
same conditions, must make the same impression, 



Errors of the Papacy. 59 

Phenomena are not a lie — science is not a cheat — 
Berkeley was not a philosopher — transubstantiation 
is not a fact. 

Even if it were a id^ct, I could not possibly know it; 
for if it is a fact, then phenomena are no proof of 
facts, because the phenomena certify the substance 
to be bread, which, on this hypothesis, is not bread, 
but flesh. But if phenomena are no proof of facts, 
then that which seems to me to be a statement and 
assurance of the truth of transubstantiation may 
itself be a false phenomenon. I hear the words, '' The 
body of Christ is present under the appearance of 
bread," but the sound is only a phenomenon. I 
read the same words, but the characters are only so 
many phenomena to my eye ; I can't rely on them, 
and, after all, there may be nothing of it. Who 
knows ? 

If it be true, I repeat, still no one can know it ; 
and then phenomena are a fraud, science is a cheat, 
and Berkeley is the world's philosopher. O! the 
logic of transubstantiation. 

I have said that the invariable relation o{ phenom- 
ena and substances is the basis of religious faith. 
Destroy this relation, and you make faith impos- 
sible. 

The revelations of the Bible, as we have seen, have 
been accompanied by facts which serve as undeni- 
able certificates of their divine authenticity. But to 
be certificates — to serve the purpose of proofs — facts 
must be appare7it. Phenomena must first assure us 
of the fact, and then the fact assures us of the divine 
source of the revelation. Even the supernatural 
has always manifested itself to us in this natural 



6o Lecture IV. 

way. We have no capacity for the recognition of 
facts in any other way. Some new faculty must be 
bestowed upon us, or we must remain dependent 
upon the old means of reaching truth. 

God has adapted his revelations to our condition, 
and to the nature of things, and, by using phe- 
nomena in their invariable relation to facts, has made 
that relation as essential to religion as it is to science. 

To say nothing of the miracles of the Old Testa- 
ment, take that most stupendous of all the facts of 
revelation, the incarnation of our Lord. He de- 
clared himself to be a man. He was a man, and 
appeared to be a man. He existed under the aspects 
and conditions of humanity. He performed human 
acts, and underwent human vicissitudes. 

He claimed, also, to be Divine. " But," says some 
objector, ** He did not appear to be Divine." Stop ! 
Were not his works Divine ? Were not his words 
Divine ? How else does Deity manifest itself to 
men except by works and words ? " Never man 
SPAKE like this man!' said even his foes. *' Believe 
me for the WORKS' sake,'' said himself. By the only 
methods by which Godhead has been manifested 
outwardly to man, the Divinity of Jesus made itself 
apparent. 

Even after his resurrection, he relies upon phe- 
nomenal attestation of his presence to assure his 
doubting disciples. Upon his appearance in their 
midst they thought he was a spirit, and were fright- 
ened. '^ Handle me and see," said he, " for a spirit 
hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." And 
to Thomas, poor, doubting Thomas, he gave the 
very proof he had demanded. He held out his hand 



Errors of the Papacy. 6i 

for Thomas' inspection, and, turning his open side, 
the ghastly witness of his suffering and his love, ex- 
claimed, '' Thrust in thy hand .f' 

Is it presuming for me to ask the man who tells 
me he has Christ on the altar, for the very same 
proofs which the Lord himself was so ready to give ? 
In humility, and in the love of truth, I ask it. God's 
revelations have always respected the human senses. 
His miracles have disregarded ordinary sequences, 
dislocated events, and counterworked apparent 
causes ; but the intimate nature and constitution of 
substances, and the inviolable fidelity of their phe- 
nomenal attestations, have never been interfered 
with. To have disturbed these would have been to 
break up the uniformity of the results of observation, 
and to destroy the possibility of conviction in the 
human mind. Thus the very object of miracles 
would have been defeated. That object, as we have 
seen, was to establish the certainty of divine truth. 
But the moment we discover uncertainty in phe- 
nomenal testimony we have no means left of testing 
facts, and are involved in an inextricable labyrinth 
of uncertainty. To accomplish their object, then, 
miracles must never violate the connection between 
facts and phenomena. They never did. 

To the priest I say, " Let me handle him and see ; 
let me find the flesh and bones." The Lord's ex- 
ample justifies the demand. He voluntarily ex- 
posed himself to this inspection, well knowing that 
both himself and his wounds would make them- 
selves known. I challenge the pretended Christ of 
the wafer to the same inspection. 

I charge transubstantiation, then, with this high 



62 Lecture IV. 

crime against human nature : that it assails, and, if 
it were true, would destroy, the very fact which 
renders both science and religious faith possible to 
man. 

I do not demand actual inspection in every case 
before I give my assent to a fact. Statements, in 
themselves credible^ made by competent and vera- 
cious witnesses, always command belief. Indeed, 
there may be an amount and character of testimony 
that will secure belief of statements that seem in- 
credible. Nor do we hesitate to yield credence to 
the chief facts of history. 

But we are often compelled to discount largely 
what we hear. Many sober statements of early 
historians are but myths. Contemporaneous his- 
tories are often distorted by party bias. And some- 
times we hear statements wholly unworthy of 
credit. 

When a man of good character tells me he has been 
in New York, I believe him. But if, after a half 
hour's separation from me, he tells me he has been 
to New York in the interval, I must beg his pardon. 
But suppose he proposes to take me along with him 
on a tour of observation, and show me the city. 
Off we start in a south-westerly direction. I sug- 
gest that we have taken a wrong course, and will 
never reach our destination ; but he tells me I 
don't know — I've never been there. On we plod 
until we reach the heart of the Ozark region, and 
between two spurs of the mountain he points out to 
me, hid away there, a miserable backwoods village, 
made up of four one-story huts, one house, a story 
and a half; one little country store, two dram shops, 



Errors of th?: Papacy. 63 

and a blacksmith shop ; and with an air of confi- 
dence tells me that's New York ! " Why," I rejoin, 
" New York is on the sea-coast, and is the com- 
mercial metropohs of all this vast country." " I 
know," he says, " I know. To be sure, it don't look 
like the place, but it zs." " New York," I explain, 
" with its railroads and its shipping, its Wall street 
and its Broadway ! T/izs New York ! with its Fifth 
Avenue and Five Points, its splendor and squalor, 
its money and misery ; where they measure money 
by the bushel and misery by the acre !" My cice- 
rone looks oracular, and says, '' It is a great mys- 
tery." I can answer only by an ironical echo, 
'* Mystery!" He becomes severe, and rebukes my 
presumption. He tells me I don't understand these 
things ; he knows ; /le has been behind the curtain, 
and it is sheer impertinence for such a one as I to 
contradict ki7n, and set up my private opinion in 
the matter ! 

I know of nothing to parallel this case, except 
when a man asseverates that he has the Lord Jesus 
in his possession ; and then exhibits, and calls by 
that ever blessed Name — what ? A little wafer that 
a child may consume at a single mouthful! 

The hypothesis of transubstantiation requires the 
multiplication of Christ's person, " whole and entire," 
by many millions. This proposition I meet by the 
following objections : 

1st. It contradicts an axiom of natural philoso- 
phy. The same body can be in but one place at 
the same time. The body of our Saviour cannot be 
in heaven and on earth, and on a thousand altars, 
whole and entire, at the same time. 



64 Lecture IV. 

2d. It contradicts a mathematical axiom. One is 
one, and not two, nor any other number. A single 
thing is not a thousand things. Either, according 
to this hypothesis, the single body of our Lord is in 
innumerable places at once, or else his single body 
is a thousand bodies. 

Not many dogmas of religion, either true or false, 
are of a nature that may be tested by mathematical 
proof. Here, however, is one so peculiarly unfortu- 
nate as to be exposed to easy refutation by every 
method usual in religious discussion, and, beyond 
that, to the exterminating contradiction of mathe- 
matical demonstration. 

It would seem that the so-called Church must be 
solicitous to render her creed impossible to human 
belief. 

That dogma which is not asserted in Scripture ; 
which denies the uniform truth of phenomena — a 
species of testimony always relied on in attestation 
of miracles and of revelation, as well as of science — 
that dogma which contradicts an axiom of natural 
philosophy, and provokes even the anathema of 
mathematics — may appeal to the protection of tra- 
dition and Councils in vain. The thunders of the 
Church reverberate harmlessly around the rock of 
demonstration. 

What has been said in this lecture proceeds upon 
the absence of Scripture proof in favor of the un- 
fortunate dogma. But as we have seen in a former 
lecture, and as we shall further see in this, Scripture 
is not silent here. Mere silence on the part of the 
sacred record would leave transubstantiation in 
hopeless ruin. But the breath of the Lord falls 



Errors of the Papacy. 65 

on the fragments of the demoHshed dogma, and 
scatters them to the four winds. 

In the Mass which accompanies transubstantia- 
tion, we are told that Christ is offered for the " quick 
and dead." They call it, I believe, the unbloody 
sacrifice. If this be true, every time Mass is per- 
formed there is a repetition of the offering of Christ. 
But, according to the Scriptures, he was offered once^ 
and du^ once. The apostle says that the sacrifices 
of the law were offered often because they were im- 
perfect, but the sacrifice of Christ, being perfect, re- 
quired to be made but once. See Heb. ix, 12, 25, 
26, 28 ; vii, 27, and x, 10 ; i Peter iii, 18. 

According to the apostle, '' Without the shedding 
of blood th^TQ is no remission." ^' The wages of sin 
is death." '' The soul that sinneth, it shall die." 
The penalty of sin is death: the atonement, to meet 
that penalty, must be made by death. Hence, with- 
out bloodshed there is no remission of sin. This un- 
bloody sacrifice is, therefore, worthless. It can avail 
nothing for the sinner. 

Consider, also, this fact : The Christian ministry 
is not a priesthood, to offer sacrifices to God for the 
people. Their commission is to preach the Gospel^ 
They have no instructions, either in the Gospels or 
the Epistles, to take upon themselves the functions 
of the priesthood. God's people are all, indeed, a 
holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices — the sac- 
rifice of praise and thanksgiving. But there is no 
separate priestly ofifice in the Christian Church, ex- 
cept that of the Great High Priest himself. 

He was taken, not by priestly, but by wicked 
hands, and offered, not by others, but by himself, to 



(j^ Lecture IV. 

God. Not in all the New Testament is there a 
single intimation that Christ's ministers are success- 
ors of the Jewish priests, nor one single hint that 
they are to offer Christ, or any sacrifice, for the sins 
of the people. They are his embassadors, to pro- 
pose terms of salvation in his name, and from his 
word to the people, and persuade them to accept 
the boon. 

Without authority as priests, they offer an un- 
bloody, and, therefore, an unscriptural and unavail- 
ing sacrifice, and pretend to offer Christ often, whose 
one offering of himself for all, being perfect, left no 
room for a repetition. '' For by one offering he hath 
perfected forever them that are sanctified." Heb. 
X, 14. Read the whole of the seventh, eighth, 
ninth, and tenth chapters of the Epistle to the He- 
brews. 

Peter tells us that Christ is not seen by his people, 
though, having not seen him, yet they love him. 
I Peter i, 8. He is not known after the flesh, but 
by faith and in a spiritual manner. 2 Corinthians 
V, 16, 17. 

He is not upon our altars now, to be seen and 
recognized by sensation, but manifests himself to 
his people by the Spirit, as he does not to the 
world. 

In the text recited at the beginning of this lecture, 
our Saviour assures his disciples that it is expedient 
for them that he should go away ; that if he did not 
go away the Comforter would not come. 

He ascended in the sight of his disciples, (Acts 
i, 9,) and " the heavens received him until the time 
of restitution of all things." At the time of his 



Errors of the Papacy. 6y 

ascension, a celestial messenger comforted the be- 
reaved disciples with the assurance that they should 
see him come again in like manner. Acts i, it. 
And the Apostle assures us that he " shall come 
again the second time, without sin unto salvation." 

Thus the Bible teaches two advents, and but two, 
in contradiction of the many advents of transub- 
stantiation. 

This dogma, then, rests solely upon the authority 
of a corporation calling itself '* the Church; " it re- 
quires an unnatural and forced interpretation of 
Scripture ; it overthrows the evidence of the senses ; 
it contradicts the first principles of reason ; it ren- 
ders science and religious faith impossible ; it pro- 
claims the coronation of the doubting philosophy, 
and, if true, precludes belief even in itself; it 
tramples upon axioms, and defies mathematics, and, 
finally, it contravenes many essential facts and doc- 
trines of Holy Scripture. 

We know it to be untrue, by axiomatic and math- 
ematical demonstration, and yet "the Church " re- 
quires us to believe it. 

It contradicts the testimony of God in many 
plain particulars, and yet "the Church " requires us 
to believe it. 

" The Church " requires an impossibility. We 
must be excused from its performance. 



68 Lecture V. 



LECTURE V. 

PRACTICAL RESULTS OF THE DOCTRINE OF TRAN- 
SUBSTANTIATION. 

"And their word will eat as doth a canker." — 2 TiM. ii, 17. 

AS most of you are already aware, I have, this 
evening, to deal with the practical results of 
the doctrine of Transubstantiation. In doing so I 
will, in the beginning, make this disclaimer: I do 
not charge that every individual who holds this doc- 
trine realizes, in his own character, all the bad re- 
sults which naturally flow from it. I have personal 
friends who are members of the Roman Church — 
persons of intelligence, and, I doubt not, of piety. 
A principle does not produce all of its own proper 
results in every mind that embraces it, for the rea- 
son that other causes meet it, and counteract it, and 
modify its influence. So, doubtless, this unfortunate 
dogma is received by many persons who escape, in 
a measure, the disastrous consequences of their 
faith. 

As this may be accounted for, first, by the fact 
that in their creed there are recognized some of the 
great truths of religion, which they apprehend with 
sufficient clearness to break the force of this capital 
error ; and, secondly, living in the midst of a com- 
munity where the Bible is untrammeled and the true 
light shines, their characters are, from that source, 
unconsciously benefited. So that, partly from with- 



Errors of the Papacy. 69 

in, and partly and more largely from without, re- 
deeming influences save them from the full measure 
of calamity in which, otherwise, the doctrine of tran- 
substantiation would involve them. 

Yet I have no doubt that, even in this country, 
great numbers do realize the results which are to be 
hereafter specified ; and that in those countries 
where the Papacy is supreme they are well-nigh, or 
quite, co-extensive with the influence of the Church. 
What I charge is, that these are the logical and 
philosophical sequences of the doctrine, and that, 
just so far as it has its course unchecked by other 
and correcting influences, it inevitably produces 
them. I ask a candid hearing of my friends of the 
Papal communion. It can do no harm to consider 
what I say. Think of it. Do not spurn it because 
it comes from a source you have been taught to 
distrust. If my statements and arguments have not 
the marks and brands of truth, you can easily dis- 
card them ; if they have, I beseech you to weigh 
them with candor. You may not find all those evils 
in your own case, but may it not be that you have 
been saved from them by causes outside of your own 
Church ? Possibly you owe more to Protestantism 
than you suppose. But if you are exempt, still ask 
yourself, and ask facts and history, if what I say is 
not true, and if it has not found sad exemplification 
in millions of cases. 

No error is found by itself; they go in herds, so 
that whenever you find one you are sure to find 
others keeping it company. There is always a leader 
in each group, and whichever way that one goes the 
rest are sure to follow. 



70 Lecture V. 

Error itself does homage to truth in that it strives 
to resemble it. Nor does it make any great head- 
way among men except as it does, in some particu- 
lars, resemble that which is true. One of the most 
striking features of truth is, that in all its parts it is 
consistent with itself. The mind recognizes this in- 
stinctively, and will tolerate nothing that cannot 
bring this testimony in its favor. So each particu- 
lar truth must be in keeping with every other one. 
This pervading characteristic of truth must be sim- 
ulated by every falsehood before it can gain any 
credit. Every principle, true or false, stands related 
to other principles ; and every fact, true or assumed, 
stands related to others ; and in each case there 
must be consent and concurrence among them all, 
otherwise their disagreement proves their falsehood. 
There is a native, inevitable logic, that will proceed 
from one thing to another, and from a fact, or an 
assumption, construct a system. And every mem- 
ber of this system will be homogeneous with the 
first. If the initial assumption be true, so will the 
rest be true ; if it be false, so will they. 

If one error could be maintained by itself it would 
not be so bad ; but if I hold one, it must precipi- 
tate me headlong into a whole class. All truth is 
important, and it is a positive misfortune to me to 
believe any falsehood — even such as have no con- 
nectign with practical life. It puts me, just to the 
extent of its own magnitude, out of adjustment with 
the universe. But in those relations in which error 
connects itself with life and character, it is terribly 
pernicious. An error of this class, to the whole ex- 
tent of its meaning, perverts the life and deforms 



Errors of the Papacy. 71 

the character of those who embrace it. But the 
harm stops not there ; it brings along after it its 
whole family, brothers, cousins, and all, and the 
whole greedy tribe feed upon the life, and subsist 
upon the blasted character, of their unhappy victim. 

The doctrine of transubstantiation belongs to this 
mischievous class of errors. It stands in a false re- 
lation to almost every vital truth of both theoret- 
ical and practical religion, and once it is received, 
they must either lose their significance or be ex- 
changed for falsehoods. Unlike them, and contra- 
dictory to them as it is, it cannot be received while 
they remain uncorrupted. There they stand, wit- 
nessing with divine authority against it : and they 
must be put out of the way, or corrupted in the 
mind of the believer, until they become homoge- 
neous with it. Such havoc does it produce in the 
beautiful garden of truth. " Their word will eat as 
doth a canker." 

To show you that I am not talking at random, I 
proceed to specifications and proofs. 

I. The doctrine of transubstantiation materializes 
religion. It offers us a corporeal Christ, and teaches 
us that we are to receive him, and be united to him 
by a physical act. 

Our Saviour calls himself the vine, and his people 
branches of the vine. Using the same figure, the 
apostle represents the true spiritual Church as an 
olive-tree. The Jews were the natural branches, and 
were broken off by tmbelief. The Gentiles were 
grafted in hy faith. No one can fail to see the ex- 
alted spiritual truth herein conveyed — the personal, 
spiritual union of Christ and his people. He is the 



72 Lecture V. 

head, they are the body, and faith is the act by 
which the union is consummated. Christ is not re- 
ceived in any corporeal act, but by a spiritual one — 
by faith. " As many as received him, to them gave 
he the power to become the sons of God ; even to 
them that believe on his name." Believing on his 
name, and receiving him, are, in this Scripture, the 
same thing. It is the soul that receives Christ, and 
not the teetJi and the stomach. ^' The words that I 
speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.'* 
Can you believe that the spiritual life is sustained, 
just as the animal life is, by eating? — that spiritual 
food is masticated, and spiritual nutrition obtained, 
by manducation? By this theory man is material- 
ized, and religion is materialized for him. The 
soul is assimilated to the body, and lives in the 
same way. 

Infinitely diverse from this is the doctrine of 
Christ. His people are born again — born of the 
Spirit, born to a new life. The nutrition of this life 
is not bread, but grace ; it is not eaten, but received 
by faith, as Christ himself so plainly teaches in the 
sixth chapter of John. Now, where this fictitious 
eating of Christ is substituted for the spiritual re- 
ception of him in the new birth, the most deplora- 
ble consequences must follow. Religion becomes 
mere formalism. ^\\^ physical is made the basis of 
the real. Do you imagine that that alone is real 
which is outward and palpable ? Do you imagine 
that flesh is more a substance than spirit ? No ! it 
is spirit that is pre-eminently actual. The basis of 
being is here. ** God is a Spirit," and he is the 
Fountain of Being. Surrounded by the material so 



Errors of the Papacy. 73 

completely as we are, we need to be constantly 
lifted up to the perception of the spiritual life. This 
is the office of religion ; and what a misfortune has 
befallen us when, instead of lightening the material 
load that weighs down our thoughts, it adds to it 
yet more and more ! Oh, Religion ! art thou not, 
indeed, then celestial ! Hast thou abandoned us to 
the flesh ? 

Vital piety cannot flow from this corporeal min- 
istration of grace. I do not say that there may not 
be by this means a development of religious senti- 
ment. But the question is, is it the trtie religious 
sentiment ? There may be, and often is, a religious 
feeling which will impel the subject of it to many 
acts of self-denial, and to a laborious pietism, which 
yet is not true piety. The Pharisees of our Sav- 
iour's day were illustrious examples of this. They 
fasted twice a week ; they bestowed alms ; they paid 
the full tithe with rigid exactness ; they made long 
prayers, often on the corners of the streets. Yet 
they robbed widows' houses, and made the temple 
a den of thieves. Even the gentle spirit of Christ 
became indignant when he saw their officious parade 
of counterfeit religious wares. " Hypocrites — brood 
of vipers " — these were the mildest appellations by 
which they could be characterized. Paganism de- 
velops religious sentiment to a very high degree. 
What sacrifices have not been made to the gods ! 
How strong must that sentiment be which causes 
the Hindoo devotee to elevate his arm, and hold it 
there until it becomes rigid ! Does the Christian 
martyr die ? Yes, for his faith he will die. When 
driven to the last alternative, to deny his Lord, or 



74 Lecture V. 

burn, he will burn. So will the Hindoo die. Vol- 
untarily, to enhance his merit in the eyes of his god, 
the Hindoo gives himself to death. Here are the 
most commanding sentiments, and in their way they 
are religious. 

The truth is, the religious consciousness is native 
in the human breast. It is there, and it responds 
to the call of error as well as to that of truth. And 
it is often aroused to feverish and exaggerated 
strength under the teachings of a false faith. It is, 
therefore, no test of true religion that there is a 
strong religious consciousness. It may exist and ex- 
press itself in the most elaborate formalism. But 
" the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but 
righteousness, and peace, said joj/ in the Holy Ghost.'' 

True godliness expresses itself, not so much in a 
bustling parade of forms, as in a pure life. It loves 
religious forms for the spirit that is in them. But 
it does not rest in the form. And when you see a 
punctilious observance of forms, with a profane and 
licentious life, you may be sure there is something 
sadly out of joint. Is there not a deadly wrong 
when the beer garden and the grog-shop are the fa- 
vorite evening haunts of those who were devout in 
the morning? These are sober considerations. My 
candid friend, think. 

This, then, is the first count in the indictment of 
the doctrine of transubstantiation, that it material- 
izes religion, destroys its vitality, and so leads to 
formalism, and defeats that practical, purifying effect 
upon character which true Christian doctrine pro- 
duces. 

2. The second count in the indictment is, that it 



Errors of the Papacy. 75 

vitiates the worship of God. '^ God is a spirit, and 
they that worship him, must worship him in spirit 
and m truth." John iv, 24. The object of the sec- 
ond commandment of the Decalogue is to secure 
this purity and spirituaHty of worship. " Thou shalt 
not make unto thyself any graven image, or any 
likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that 
is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under 
the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to 
them, nor serve them ; for I, the Lord thy God, am 
a jealous God," etc. Exod. xx, 4, 5. See, also, 
Lev. xxvi, I ; Deut. iv, 16-19, 8, and xxvii, 15 ; and 
Psa. xcvii, 7. This point was guarded with special 
care. God knew with what facility the mind would 
come to stop at the image, and cease to look be- 
yond it to that which it represented. Hence the 
law prohibits the making of any image to represent 
either created things, false gods, or the true God, 
for purposes of worship. God would have the mind 
of the worshiper directed immediately to himself. 
He would have the thought unoccupied with any 
other object, lest his glory should be divided with 
another. We are in danger of doing injustice to the 
idolatrous religions of the world, by supposing that 
they teach the worship of mere images. Their im- 
ages are but images, intended to express some trait 
in the character of the god they represent, and thus 
aid the mind in its conception of the divinity which 
is the object of worship. Often, no doubt, they 
supposed the god to be present in the image. They 
imagined themselves to be paying homage to the 
Divine nature ; they were sadly mistaken. 

The case of the worship of the host is not strictly 



76 Lecture V. 

parallel, but, at the same time, it is analogous. 
Though the bread is not an image, yet they suppose 
it to be inhabited by the true God, and, under that 
idea, " bow down themselves to it." They worship 
God under a false view ; they worship him under a 
false form. They worship him, but not in truth. 
And though the mind of the cultivated Romanist 
may, by an effort, raise itself from the bread to the 
Divine nature, yet is it not inevitable that the un- 
taught and unskillful mind will be arrested by the 
material object before it, and that that object will 
receive a share, at least, of its homage ? Is not this 
idolatry? Even those most skilled in discrimina- 
tion, if they suppose the wafer to be in a special 
manner the receptacle of God, and conceive of it 
thus, confer a species of divine honor upon the in- 
sensible creature before them, and must regard it 
with a degree of reverence not due to any creature. 
How much does this want of idolatry? I submit 
the question to yourselves for decision. The 
thoughtful Romanist, who examines this subject 
thoroughly, will scarcely bow before the wafer with- 
out misgiving. Pause at the check of conscience, 
and ask your soul if you are not giving the glory of 
the great God to another. Can you bow before 
that wafer, and then meet God with confidence and 
composure? Oh! my brother, I entreat you, for 
your own soul's sake, suffer not your priest to lead 
you into sacrilege. 

3. This dogma perverts the ministerial office. 

The attentive reader of the New Testament must 
have observed that the chief function of the minis- 
terial office is that of preaching. The Divine Word, 



Errors of the Papacy. ^jj 

the Truth, is the principal instrument selected by 
the Almighty for the turning of men to himself. 
The Word of God is the good seed in the parable 
of the sower. (Matt, xiii, 3-8, 18-23.) According to 
Peter, it is the incorruptible seed by which we are 
born to a new life, (i Pet. i, 2, 3.) James declares, 
with equal plainness, that the spiritual life comes to 
us through the Word. (James i, 18.) For this rea- 
son the divine injunction to ministers of the gospel 
is, *' Preach the Wordy 

" Go ye into all the world, and PREACH THE GOS- 
PEL to every creature." (Mark xvi, 15.) ''Go ye, 
therefore, and TEACH all nations." (Matt, xxviii, 19.) 
Such is the commission. It expresses, in language 
that absolutely precludes misunderstanding, the 
nature of the ministerial calling. The minister s 
vocatio7t is to preach. The pastoral office is incident 
to this. He is to preach not only publicly, but also 
" privately, from house to house." He has charge 
of the flock, that he may feed it with the word of 
truth. And this charge involves certain responsi- 
bility in the discipline of the Church, as explained 
by the apostle in the epistles to Timothy. But all 
this grows naturally and necessarily out of the origi- 
nal design of the office — \kiQ preaching oi \\i^ gospel. 
This is the extent of ministerial powers as given in 
the Christian Scriptures. 

But transubstantiation, and the sacrifice of the 
mass, require a priesthood, whose office is, having 
procured the divine change in the elements, to offer 
them as a sacrifice to God. Now, in the Christian 
dispensation, there is no human priest as an officer 
in the Church. The Lord Jesus is himself the only 



78 Lecture V. 

priest, and has offered the only sacrifice. This I 
proved to you in my last lecture. Those men who 
assume the sacerdotal office do actually usurp the 
office of the Lord Jesus Christ. To such sacrilege 
does this fatal dogma lead them. O ! ye priests of 
Rome, the best of you, though ye were pure as an 
apostle, are your hands clean enough to offer that 
immaculate victim, the Lamb of God ? How dare 
you to assume the peculiar office of the Son of 
God ? For such temerity you must one day answer 
to your Maker. 

Before the Reformation of the sixteenth century, 
preaching had fallen almost wholly into disuse ; so 
much so, that in the Apocalypse the revival of preach- 
ing is recognized as the significant fact of the new 
religious movement. You remember the vision of 
the angel flying through the midst of heaven, hav- 
ing the everlasting gospel to preach. It was the 
sign of returning vitality in the Church of God. 
Even now, in Papal countries, there is scarcely any 
preaching. When the pulpit is brought into requi- 
sition, it is usually to harangue the audience upon 
the miracles of some saint, the wonderful virtue of 
some relic, or upon some other topic equally use- 
less, and equally foreign from the gospel. 

The preaching of the pure gospel is a priceless 
blessing to the world. The truth of God, so potent 
in itself, coming from a heart that feels it, produces 
results such as Christ foresaw when he instituted 
the ministry. The world needs " line upon line, line 
upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon pre- 
cept ; here a little and there a little," now, as much 
as when the prophet wrote. This demand is met 



Errors of the Papacy. 79 

by the living ministry. It is not met by any other 
agency in existence. Where this Hght goes out, the 
world is in darkness. The effect is seen in the 
morals of the people. 

I shall not venture an attempt to describe the in- 
jury which Rome inflicted on our race when she 
usurped the office of the Divine Redeemer in his 
priesthood, and put out the light of the pulpit. But 
it was the logical and necessary consequence of the 
Papal doctrine of the Eucharist. 

4. It degrades the atonement of Christ, His offer- 
ing of himself to God was a perfect sacrifice. So 
the apostle teaches. He offered himself " once for 
all." There is no need that he should be offered 
often. This point was established in my last lecture. 
But the doctrine of the priests, that he is often 
offered by them, is in direct conflict with this plain 
teaching of the New Testament, and degrades the 
atonement in two ways. 

First, it represents the passion of Christ as being 
insufficient, so that he must be offered frequently 
until the end of time. It puts the suffering of Christ 
on a level with the offerings of the Jewish ritual, 
which, the apostle says, had constantly to be re- 
peated on account of their imperfection. So low 
do they bring my Saviour. And, secondly, it puts 
the Son of God into the hands of mere men, to be 
offered by them. According to the Scriptures, he 
was the only priest worthy to officiate in the offer- 
ing of that august sacrifice. 

Jesus ! how do they degrade thee ! How do they 
crucify thee afresh ! More cruel than the nails, 
more murderous than the spear, are the words with 



8o Lecture V. 

which they mangle thee. In this degradation of the 
atonement, a false and unworthy object of faith is 
offered to the penitent — a pretended atonement 
where there is none. ^' Their word will eat as doth 
a canker." 

5 . It invests the priest with a fictitious and danger- 
ous consequence in his own eyes, and in the eyes of 
those who believe the dogma. 

They regard him as a worker of divine wonders. 
The man who, by pronouncing a few words, can 
produce such a change as that claimed in transub- 
stantiation, must be regarded with no common 
reverence. Then he comes between the people and 
God, as their priest, authorized to offer sacrifice for 
them, not only while living, but after they shall be 
dead. The Papist, in proportion as his religious 
convictions are sincere and thorough, must look 
upon his priest with a superstitious awe. If the 
better educated of them are raised above this feel- 
ing, it is fortunate for them. But with the great 
mass it is otherwise. And this result is augmented 
by the habit of confessing to the priest. Auricular 
confession is itself an appendage of the priestly 
office, and so is traced directly to its paternity in 
transubstantiation. It belongs to the family of 
abuses that has descended from this dogma. Noth- 
ing can be better calculated to inspire a cringing 
dread of the priest than this. Think of a man re- 
ceiving the confession of another man, which ought 
to be made to God — the confession of all his sins, 
public and secret — sins of the heart as well as of the 
life — sins of thought and imagination, as well as 
those that have ripened into action. He stands in 



Errors of the Papacy. 8i 

the place of God to that man, and from that day 
the penitent must cringe before his father confessor. 
The priest must, also, himself come to feel a sort of 
consequence from the relation he assumes toward 
the layman that will tempt him to abuse it. And I 
utter what every one must admit to be true, when 
I say that there is an amount of power thus secured 
to the priest which is unsafe in the hands of any un- 
inspired man. He will begin to feel soon that his 
is an authority that must not be resisted. From 
this position there is but one short step to the 
theory that the Church has the right to coerce con- 
formity to her creed. Persecution of heretics must 
come of it. 

What we would thus be led, a priori^ to expect, 
may be read on many a blood-red page of history. 
The Church of Rome, indeed, has avowed her claim 
to the right of enforcing her creed by persecuting 
even to death. And, once committed to the claim, 
she can never retract it. Is she not infallible ? 

The history of the Inquisition must ever be re- 
garded with horror by outraged humanity. This 
revolting tribunal was established in the twelfth 
century. It originated under the auspices of a Pope 
of Rome named Innocent. The ecclesiastics of that 
day, not satisfied with the ordinary judicial processes 
in the case of heretics, and seeking their extermina- 
tion, invented a mode of hunting them out of every 
secret place, that none might escape. Hence the 
name of the tribunal, The Inquisition. A vague sus- 
picion was sufficient for a man's apprehension, and, 
once in the hands of the Inquisitors, the victim was 
most affectionately urged to confess, by the potent 



82 Lecture V. 

solicitations of torture. Under the influence of the 
Popes and the clergy, the princes of several Euro- 
pean countries sanctioned and supported this blood- 
thirsty tribunal, so that no man dared to oppose it. 
Those whose friends were seized by it were mute 
with fear. Though the suspicion on which they 
were arrested might be ever so unfounded, so per- 
vading was the tyranny and so terrible the power 
of the Inquisitors, that none might interpose to save 
them. Even when innocent, he could bring no 
witness to establish the fact, but must undergo tor- 
ture to extort confession, and if he escaped at last, 
it was usually with his life alone. Once under sus- 
picion, it were as well to be guilty as innocent, for 
what of life was left to those against whom nothing 
could be proven, and from whom no confession could 
be wrung, was scarce worth the having. If the 
slightest evidence pointed to guilt, the suspected 
were delivered over to the civil authority, in a 
solemn public manner, to be burned. And the 
kind-hearted priest, after hunting up his victim and 
torturing him, and condemning him for no other 
purpose than to see him burned, graciously enjoined 
the secular officers 7iot to touch his bloody or put his 
life in danger! ! But the recreant secular officers 
always would hviXn them. 

•You may meet with men who will deny that the 
Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal. They will 
asseverate that it was a civil court, and charge its 
atrocities upon the Spanish Government. Such 
men '^ know not what they say, nor whereof they 
affirm." It has existed in almost every papal coun- 
try of Europe, first or last. The Church created it. 



Errors of the Papacy. 83 

In various countries the civil authorities had more 
or less connection with it. Indeed, the execution of 
the sentence always devolved on them. And if any 
one should doubt my testimony because I am a 
heretic, I refer him to the following unquestionable 
witness — one who is, at any rate, above the suspic- 
ion of bearing false witness against the Roman 
Church. I quote from a book bearing the following 
title : " The Primacy of the Apostolic See Vindi- 
cated, by Francis Patrick Kenrick, Archbishop of 
Baltimore." The Archbishop says : '' The qu (Esi- 
tores fidei^ or Inquisitors, were first appointed by In- 
nocent III." Again ; " The ecclesiastical character 
of the tribunal is evident from its judges, who were 
clergymen, from the chief matter of cognizance, which 
was heresy, and from its original organization, which 
was planned and directed by the Pontiff. It assumed 
a secular character by the action of the emperor and 
of other potentates, who attached civil effects, es- 
pecially capital punishment, to its sentence. For this 
reason it could nowhere exist without the concur- 
rence of both parties. " ( Pp . 353- -4.) 

But we are often told that at least the Spanish 
Inquisition was an affair of the State, for which the 
Church is not responsible. The Archbishop afore- 
said does his best to cast the odium of it entirel) 
upon the Spanish monarchy. But he is compelled 
to admit facts which contradict his assertions. (See 
Primacy, p. 356.) *' At the solicitation of Ferdinand, 
Sixtus IV., in the year 1478, authorized the erection 
of a tribunal of Inquisition throughout the Spanish 
dominions." Who is the more deeply implicated, 
the King who solicited, or the Pope who authorized? 



84 Lecture V. 

But the Archbishop insisted that " the Spanish In- 
quisition may be styled a royal tribunal, since the 
king appointed the supreme inquisitor from among 
the bishops, with the assent of the Pope, and other- 
wise exercised an influence equivalent, in many in- 
stances, to control." {Id.) Now I submit, if a tri- 
bunal which was instituted to take cognizance of 
religious causes, whose chief officers are ecclesiastics 
appointed with the assent of the Pope, is not, at 
least, as much an ecclesiastical as it is a civil court ? 
All this Archbishop Kenrick admits of the celebrated 
Spanish Inquisition. The truth is, it seems to me 
to be at least four fifths ecclesiastical. 

Finally, on this subject I will introduce the testi- 
mony of Joannes Devotus. His works are indorsed 
at Rome. He is, at least, as good authority as any 
papal writer in this country. It is only about sixty- 
seven years since he wrote. In his Institutions, vol. 
4, under the head, '* Inquisitors of Heretical Pravity,'' 
you may find the following : 

" The cause of instituting the tribunal, called the Inquisi- 
tion, was this :. At first everj^ Bishop in his own diocese, or a 
number of Bishops assembled in a Provincial Council, made 
inquisition of those errors which arose in the diocese or prov- 
ince ; but the more weighty matters were always referred to 
the Apostolical seat, and thus every Bishop or Provincial Coun- 
cil took care to bring it to its proper issue whatever was decreed 
by the Apostolical See. But in process of time, when greater 
evils pressed, it became necessary for the Pope to send legates 
into those regions in which heresy had long and widely spread, 
that they might assist the Bishops in restraining the audacity 
of abandoned men, and in deterring Christians from foreign and 
depraved doctrines. But when new errors daily sprung up, 
and the number of heretics was greatly increased —seeing that 



Errors of the Papacy. 85 

the legates could not be always at hand, nor apply the proper 
remedy, it was determined to institute a standing tribunal, 
that should always be present, and at all times, and in every 
country, should devote their minds to preserving the soundness 
of the faith, and to restraining and expelling heresies as they 
arose. Thus it was that the Inquisitors were first appointed 
to perform the office of Vicars to the Holy See. But as, in a 
matter so weighty as the preservation of the purity of the faith, 
the Inquisitors needed that close union of mind and sentiment 
which is proper to the Apostolical See, as the center of unity, 
there was instituted at Rome, by the Popes, an assembly or 
congregation of Cardinals, in which the Pope presides. This 
congregation is the head of all hiquisitors OVER THE WHOLE 
WORLD ; to it they all refer their more difficult matters ; and 
its authority aiid judgment are final. It is rightly and wisely 
ordered that the Popes office and power should sustain this 
institution. For he is the center of unity and head of the 
Church ; and to him Christ has committed plenary power to 
feed, teach, rule, and govern all Christians." 

These statements, be it remembered, are indorsed 
at Rome. They were not made especially for Amer- 
ican ears, to be sure, but all the better for that. 
Henceforth, if any man tells you the Inquisition is 
not a tribunal of the Roman Church, tell him he 
knows not what he says. 

Rome ! alas for her, she had no Scripture to put 
down the Waldenses and other evangelical heretics 
with, and what could she do ? What ? The sword 
was within her reach, and with its point she might 
open a way into human hearts for the introduction 
of her creed. And she did. In Spain, alone, as the 
records of the Inquisition show, near half a million 
suffered the most horrible death under sentence of 
this tribunal. 

The massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day In France 



86 Lecture V. 

is a matter of public history. On the occasion of 
certain nuptial festivities in the French court, the 
Protestant noblemen of the nation were brought to- 
gether to be butchered. And they were butchered. 
Ten thousand fell in three days in the city. The 
best blood of the kingdom ran down the gutters 
into the river. Throughout the land, by secret 
orders from the king, Protestants were given to the 
knife. Some estimates put the number of victims 
at one hundred thousand ; others as low as thirty 
thousand. 

But how was the news received in Rome ? ^'When 
the letters of the Pope's Legate were read in the 
assembly of the Cardinals, by which he assured the 
Pope that all was transacted by the express will and 
command of the King, it was immediately decreed 
that the Pope should march with his Cardinals to 
the Church of St. Mark, and in the most solemn 
manner give thanks to God /or so great a blessing con- 
ferred on the See of Rome and the Christian world !" 

On the following Monday Mass was celebrated in 
honor of the event. They ordained, also, a universal 
Jubilee, that thanks might be given and rejoicings 
celebrated everywhere, for the destruction of the 
enemies of the truth and Church in France. Thus 
was the whole Romish Church committed to the 
butchery of St. Bartholomew's Day. Innocent men, 
collected on a festive occasion, under fraudulent 
pledges of friendship and safety, are treacherously 
given to slaughter, and '^ the Church " indorses the 
deception and the murder, and rejoices in it greatly. 
This is the infallible Church — the Church that never 
errs, and can never retract. 



Errors of the Papacy. 87 

Even now the cries of the Jew, MoRTARA, are 
echoing through the world. Robbed of his child by 
force and fraud, he is a swift witness against the 
persecuting tyranny of the Romish priesthood. 

But why does not Rome persecute in this country ? 
Freemen ! can you tell me why ? Sons of the Rev- 
olution ! why ? 

Some years ago there was a paper published in 
this city, entitled " The Shepherd of the Valley." 
It existed under the auspices of the Church of Rome, 
and in November, 185 1, it contained the language 
which I am about to recite. This language excited 
a good deal of interest, and was, as it must always 
be, condemned by many. It was, therefore, repu- 
diated by some Papal organs, who charged that the 
editor of the Shepherd was an irresponsible man, 
speaking without authority. This the editor of the 
Shepherd denied, and declared in his paper that he 
enjoyed the sanction of the Archbishop of St. Louis. 
Accordingly the indorsement of " his Grace" stands 
at the head of the sheet, with the signature and sign 
duly appended. Hear him : 

" If the Catholics ever gain — which they surely 
will do, though at a distant day — an immense nu- 
merical superiority, religious freedom in this country 
is at an end. So say our enemies. So we believe. 
But in what sense do we believe it ? In what sense 
are we the advocates of religious intolerance? In 
the sense in which the enemies of the Church un- 
derstand the word? By no means. We simply 
mean that a Christian people will not consider the 
ridicule of Christianity, the denial of its fundamental 
truths of the immortality of the soul, and the ex- 



88 Lecture V. 

istence of God, the overthrow of all religion and 
morality, matters beneath their notice and condem- 
nation; that the foundation will be laid for a legis- 
lation which shall restrain the propagation of certain 
doctrines ; that men will no longer be permitted to 
attack dogmas with which morality is inseparably 
connected!' 

Of course, when the time comes, " the Church " 
will be the sole arbiter of the question- — which are 
the " dogmas with which morality is inseparably 
connected?" From the crook of such a Shepherd^ 
GOOD Lord, deliver us. 

No goodness of individual character in the priests 
of Rome can save them from the philosophical ten- 
dencies of their system. They are not persecutors 
because they are naturally worse than other men, 
but because their priestly assumptions lead to that 
result. They are but men. They find irresponsible 
power in their hands. The most natural thing in 
the world is, that they should become impatient of 
contradiction, and at last enforce submission to their 
authority. The people, once receiving them in their 
assumed character of priests and confessors, and 
assenting to their miraculous claim of changing bread 
into the person of the Son of God, will be ready to 
second them in almost any thing. Hence the truth 
of the statement, made by the benevolent Shepherd 
of our Valley, that when Rome gets the ascendency, 
religious toleration ceases. 

My brother of the Roman communion in our 
happy America, pause and think ! Remember your 
own Lord Baltimore, who inaugurated religious 
liberty in Maryland. Shall the blood of ecclesias- 



Errors of the Papacy. 89 

tical martyrs ever stain the soil consecrated to free- 
dom by the Revolution ? May God forbid it ! 

But you tell me that Protestants have persecuted. 
Ves I and we can never forgive the deep perversion 
of the human mind by the Church of Rome, which 
it took Protestantism two hundred years to outgrow. 
But, thank God, Protestantism is not committed to 
persecution. No one has ever had authority to com- 
mit it to such a thing. It can be pledged to nothing 
except by the Word of God. There is nothing in 
the tendency of Protestant principles to lead to per- 
secution. In Rome it is far otherwise. With her 
claim of infallibility, the precedents of the hoary 
past bind her to intolerance wherever she may have 
power. The very elements of her priestly office 
constitute an inward impulsion in the same direc- 
tion. If the blows of the secular arm in this country 
were directed by Roman nerves, this lecture would 
cost me my life. 

6. The last count of this indictment is that the 
doctrine of transubstantiation leads to infidelity. 

The infidelity of the educated classes in Papal 
countries is a notorious fact, and one that is readi- 
ly accounted for. To their minds Romanism and 
Christianity are synonymous terms. The religion 
of our Saviour is held accountable for all the impos- 
sibilities of the Papal creed. The result is inevitable. 
Infidelity or the Papal creed — this is their alternative. 
The creed is impossible to them. They fall, as they 
must do, on the other horn. 

Men who think see the great corporation of facts 
carrying on the business of existence in the utmost 
harmony. They discover certain principles that are 



90 Lecture V. 

universally predicable of facts — principles that are 
so palpable as to be named axioms. No fact ever 
ousts them. One is one, and not two. So the sov- 
ereign axiom decrees, and all facts yield their ready 
suffrage. But here is a new comer that sets up its 
claims and demands a place in the guild of facts. 
^ But it must have its own way. It don't like the 
sovereign authority of axioms. It is refractory. 
One is not only one — it is a million. Impossible ! 
A universal voice scouts the interloper. By ballot, 
every vote of facts and principles blackballs the 
stranger. If introduced, he will set the whole cor- 
poration by the ears. 

But some sagacious objector replies : These facts 
of religion are independent of axioms — they are on 
higher ground — they are mysteries. There is the 
Trinity, for instance, which makes one to be three, 
and three one. I deny it. The Trinity involves no 
such absurdity. It teaches that there are three per- 
sons in one Godhead — not that three persons are one 
person. 

No axiom is contradicted here. The world is full 
of illustrations of the fact that many persons may 
constitute one organization. Every corporation in 
the land is an illustration. The Supreme Court of 
your State is an illustration. There are three judges 
and one court. I do not say that these are illustra-^ 
tions of the mode of the Trinity in the Godhead. In 
the mode there is mystery. But they illustrate the 
fact of uni-plurality. This is all that the doctrine 
of the Trinity needs to save it from absurdity. The 
incarnation of Christ is given as carrying with it 
contradictions equal to those of transubstantiation. 



Errors of the Papacy. 91 

Nothing is more unjust. That two natures may be 
united in one person is all that the doctrine of the 
incarnation requires to protect it from the charge of 
absurdity. Every man presents an illustration of 
this in his own person. Flesh andspirit are blended 
into a single existence. Why, then, may not the 
human and the divine? The fact is vindicated — 
the mode is mysterious. And where are any facts 
whose modes and processes are not mysterious ? Is 
not nutrition so ? Are not sensation and conscious- 
ness, thought and affection, so? Is not every move- 
ment of the human body, every development of the 
human mind, mysterious in its modes? 

Thus do the great truths of revealed religion es- 
tablish their claim to membership in the great guild 
of facts. They become visible just sufficiently to 
establish their consistency and harmony with other 
facts, and then sweep up into the inaccessible empyr- 
ean of thought, above the sight of men, above the 
sight of angels. But transubstantiation, when it 
comes, fights with all facts, and yet claims to be 
one. 

Alas, for the man who knows no Christianity that 
does not involve transubstantiation ! The impossi- 
ble dogma must be repudiated, and the world's hope, 
having been joined to it in unlawful bans, by un- 
authorized and usurping priests, must go with it. 

O France, France ! St. Bartholomew's Day made 
thee over to infidelity I The French mind was too 
much cultivated to believe in this dogma. Protest- 
antism, sent of God to the relief of awakening intel- 
lect, was strangled on that black day. Infidelity be- 
came inevitable. Infidelity gave France up to an- 



92 Lecture V. 

archy, and the lustration of many revolutions has 
not yet washed out the stain. 

Such are the necessary results of this doctrine. 
It materializes religion, it perverts the ministerial 
office, it degrades "the atonement, it vitiates worship, 
it gives the priest a fictitious and dangerous conse- 
quence in his own eyes, and in the eyes of the dev- 
otee, and it tends, among cultivated men, to infi- 
delity. 

Next Sunday evening, with the blessing of God, 
I will give you the history of transubstantiation. I 
will give somewhat largely the testimony of the early 
fathers. I will show when the doctrine originated, 
and where, and how. I will show you how it ad- 
vanced and receded for many years, and through 
what controversies it made its way ; and in all this 
I will give you names, dates, and all. 



Errors of the Papacy. 93 



LECTURE VI. 

THE HISTORY OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION — TESTI- 
MONY OF THE FATHERS. 

IN the first lecture of this series, I proved to you 
that Holy Scripture, and that alone, is de- 
cisive in the settlement of theological questions. I 
have since shown that not only is the doctrine of 
transubstantiation irreconcilably at war with facts, 
but that it is equally at war with the Scripture, and, 
more, that its tendencies and practical results are 
terribly pernicious. 

And since the supporters of this theory rely so 
much upon the testimony of the Fathers — the 
teachers of Christianity in the early days of the 
Church — I will, for their accommodation, and that 
you may know the facts in the case, give you a cor- 
rect version of their teaching on this subject. But 
I must be indulged in a word as to the value of 
patristic testimony. 

In matters of fact, pertaining to contempora- 
neous history, their voice is decisive ; but in 
questions of faith, their opinions, like those of all 
other men, must be brought to the test of Scripture. 
Erasmus and other Papal authors admit their falli- 
bility, and that they contradict each other. They 
were not inspired, and were therefore liable to 
error, and did often err. Yet it seems unreasona- 
ble that the whole Church should have fallen into 



94 Lecture VI. 

gross error on a vital point in the ages immediately 
succeeding that of the apostles. It is, therefore, 
proper to give much weight to opinions in reference 
to vital doctrine, universally maintained in the first 
centuries by the public teachers of Christianity. 
But they are good for nothing against express 
Scripture, nor are they authoritative in the absence 
of Scripture. 

We are assured most solemnly by those who hold 
the doctrine of transubstantiation, that all tJu 
Fathers, who speak upon the subject at all, support 
the dogma. If we may believe them. Christian an- 
tiquity testifies with one consent in their favor. 
Well, we will take a look into antiquity this evening 
for ourselves, and see what we shall find. 

But I wish to refer briefly to the Scripture argu- 
ment, that I may approach this remote antiquity in 
an intelligible manner. You will remember what 
was said in a previous lecture upon our Saviour's 
discourse to the Jews in Capernaum, in the sixth 
chapter of John. In that discourse he told them 
that in order to have everlasting life they must eat 
his flesh and drink his blood, and, as I fully showed, 
by this striking figure he taught them that spiritual 
life is derived from him by faith. On the con- 
trary, those who at the present day maintain the dog- 
ma of transubstantiation, contend that he there 
speaks of the Eucharist, and enjoins the literal eat- 
ing of his flesh and drinking of his blood. Perhaps 
you will be surprised to hear that the great doctors 
of the Roman Church agree perfectly with the 
Protestant exposition of this Scripture, Take a few 
specimens : '' Our Lord speaks not here of the sacra- 



Errors of the Papacy. 95 

ment." So testifies Cajetan. Pope Innocent III 
declares that Christ " speaks of spiritual participa- 
tion in faith." Another Pope, Julius II, assures the 
faithful that ^' Jesus treats there not of sacramental 
bat of spiritual drinking. Faith is the only means 
of such participation: for the communion was not 
then instituted." 

Mauritius, in a treatise sanctioned by the Council 
of Constance, says that the language of our Saviour 
here '' cannot signify sacramental participation, but 
spiritual reception by faith." Ragusa was appoint- 
ed by the Council of Basel, to refute Rokzana, the 
Bohemian. In the course of his argument, com- 
menting upon the sixth chapter of John, he uses the 
language : '^ Our Lord never here, in any way, men- 
tions sacramental manducation, but spiritual eating 
and drinking by faith. -5^ * -5^ * Xo eat and 
drink is to believe, and to believe is to eat and 
drink." Villetan, who enjoys great distinction in 
the Council of Trent, said before that assembly and 
without contradiction, '^ The fruits of eating our 
Lord's flesh and drinking his blood, are everlasting 
life and dwelling in him ; and both refer to a living 
faith!'' ''Thee, Lord, we eat and drink when we 
believe in thee." And he further declared then and 
there, that this exposition had " always, ever since 
its promulgation, been the interpretation of the 
Universal Church!'' 

Such also was the exposition of the Fathers, of 
whom we may name, Ignatius, Cyril, Jerome, 
Chrysostom, and Augustine, the latter of whom es- 
pecially, in a formal and very lengthy comment on 
the place, proves its purely spiritual import with 



96 Lecture VI. 

great variety of argument and beauty of illustration. 
The great Doctors and Schoolmen agree on this 
point — such men as Theophylact, Bede, Guerrero, 
William, Gerson, Jansenius, Biel, Walden, Tilmann, 
Stephen, Lindan, Lombard, Albert, Aquinas, Ales, 
Bonaventura, Remegius and Bernard. The great 
names of theological and scholastic history are on 
the side of spiritual meaning in this place. 

More recently, since the increased light of 
Protestantism has to be contended with, the sink- 
ing cause of transubstantiation has required the 
literal physical interpretation of the language, and 
Milner, Challoner, Maguire, Kinsella, and others, 
become its champions. They are not the theolo- 
gians of the Papal Church, who are responsible for 
this exposition, but theologasters — the ecclesias- 
tical tinkers and peddlers of cheap wares in the 
hermeneutical market. 

Indeed, we \\diVQ good Roman authority for saying, 
what is certainly true, that transubstantiation can- 
not be proven by Scripture. Hear the Cardinal Al- 
liaco : ''The opinion that the bread and wine pre- 
serve their own substance is not unscriptural, and is 
more rational and easy of belief than the contrary." 
Scotus could find no "express scriptural evidence in 
favor of transubstantiation," and Bellarmine thinks 
that Scotus yN'A.'^ probably n^\.. The great Erasmus 
sought in vain for any " certain Scripture declara- 
tion of this dogma." And Fisher fished for the 
" true presence " in the " words of institution," but 
could not find it. The same concession is made by 
Biel and Tanner, by Canus and Occam, by Olphon- 
sus and Cantaren, by Durand, Vasquesius, and 



Errors of the Papacy. 97 

others. They were acute men, and believed in 
transubstantiation. No doubt they thought it 
ought to be in the Bible, and so they looked for it 
most diligently. They carried the light of investi- 
gation into every dark place — searched every *' nook 
and cranny " — but to no purpose. They inspected 
the words of institution with no better success. 
Their dogma was not there — it was not anywhere 
in all the Word of God, and, failing to find it, they 
had the honesty to confess it. 

The only remaining hope for transubstantiation is 
in the authority of the Church to make her own 
dogmas, and in an appeal to the Fathers. The 
creed-making prerogative of the Church I will at- 
tend to in due time, but this evening we will see 
how far the Fathers may be made to serve the cause 
of the unscriptural dogma. They are quoted by its 
defenders with an air of great confidence. How 
justly we shall see. If we shall find them quoting 
the venerable names of antiquity not quite fairly, 
w^e must judge them leniently. They are in great 
distress for proofs — their cause is dying for want of 
them, and if they do commit " the iniquity of partial 
citation," let their necessities be plead in pallia- 
tion. 

Having the truth on my side, I can afford to do 
what the advocates of the opposite theory dare not 
— that is, to quote both sides. I will give you, 
therefore, two classes of patristic statement : first, 
such as the Romanists rely on to prove transub- 
stantiation, and, secondly, such as Protestants rely 
on to disprove it. This done, you can decide for 
yourself, without any help of mine. And I pledge 



98 Lecture VI. 

myself to give you the very strongest passages 

claimed by the Papists as establishing their theory. 

First, then, take Justin, in the second century : — 

" We receive not the elements as common bread or as com- 
mon wine, but in what manner Christ, our Saviour, being 
made flesh through the Word of God, took flesh and blood for 
our salvation ; in like manner also we are taught that the ali- 
ment from which our blood and flesh are nourished by trans- 
mutation, being received with thanks through the prayer of 
the word instituted by himself, is the flesh and blood of that 
Jesus who was -inade flesh.'' (Justin Apol. i.) 

Cyril of Jerusalem, who wrote in the fourth cen- 
tury, uses this language: ''When Christ himself 
hath declared and spoken concerning the bread, 
' This is my body ' — who shall henceforth dare to 
hesitate? And when he hath peremptorily pro- 
nounced and asserted, * This is my blood ' — who will 
venture to doubt, saying that it is not his blood ? 
He once, at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, 
changed the water into wine ; shall we not then give 
credi,t for changing the wine into blood ? If, when 
called to a mere corporeal marriage, he wrought that 
great wonder, shall we not much rather confess 
that he hath given the fruition of his own body and 
blood to the sons of the bridegroom." (Cyril, Catch. 
Mystag iv.) And again : '' The bread which we be- 
hold, though to the taste it be bread, is yet not 
bread, but the body of Christ ; and the wine which 
we behold, though to the taste it be wine, is yet not 
wine but the blood of Christ." (Cyril, Catch. 
Myst. iv.) 

These I give as specimens, and they are the very 
strongest that can be found in the patristic zvritings. 



Errors of the Papacy. 99 

And before I proceed to give quotations on the 
other side, you will indulge a few remarks. 

First, if these passages prove the doctrine in ques- 
tion, so may it be proved by Protestant Churches of 
this day. Suppose some number of the Republicany 
containing a report of this lecture, should be found 
a thousand years hence, and an old volume of the 
Methodist Discipline of the same date, and some 
spectacled antiquarian, reading the sacramental 
service, should find the petition that we may '' so 
eat the flesh and drink the blood," etc., and then 
the language used in distributing the elements, 
** the body of our Lord Jesus Christ," *' the blood of 
our Lord Jesus Christ : " by the same process by 
which transubstantiation is proved from the above 
citations, he might prove me to be a believer of the 
dogma. The plain truth is, that the Fathers, and 
Christian writers to this day, use the figure which 
our Saviour gave in the words of institution. They 
speak of the elements as the body and blood of the 
Lord. And in using this language they no more 
think of being misunderstood than Jesus did when 
he said, '* I am the door." 

Secondly. The early Christian writers were much 
given to the use of the metaphor, and that in its 
boldest forms. Chrysostom, for instance, says that 
" the baptized are clothed in purple garments, dyed 
in the Lord's blood." Cyril, of Alexandria, speaks 
of Christians as being '' made partakers of the 
Saviours holy flesh in holy baptism." Jerome rep- 
resents the eunuch as being '^ baptized m the blood of 
the Lainby Such specimens might be multiplied at 
pleasure. Much of that which is preserved to us 



loo Lecture VI. 

from those times is in the form of sermons or lect- 
ures, and is exceedingly, even fervidly, rhetorical. 
The fathers wqyq preachers, and cultivated the style 
adapted to declamation. Hence the extreme bold- 
ness, not to say extravagance, of their metaphors. 
The habits of their country and their age contrib- 
uted to the same result. And certainly it need 
not surprise us to hear a man call the sacramental 
bread the flesh of Christ, after he has said we are 
partakers of the Saviour's flesh in baptism. We 
know the one to be a very bold figure — so, also, we 
know the other to be. 

Thirdly. The last remark I have to make on this 
point is, that those men have a right to explain for 
themselves the sense in which they used the lan- 
guage which we have quoted. The quotations which 
I have made from Cyril, of Jerusalem, are of the 
very strongest class to be found anywhere in the 
ancient writings. *' Shall we not give him credit for 
changing the wine into blood ?" ** Who shall ven- 
ture to doubt, saying it is not his blood ?" Did 
Cyril mean to say that it was c\\2ir\gQd physically, so 
that it became actually Chnst's physical blood ? Let 
him speak for himself. Alluding to the chrism used 
in his day, in connection with baptism, he says, 
in an address to the Mystae : " Ye are anointed with 
ointment, and ye have become partakers of Christ ; 
but take care lest you deem that ointment to be 
mere ointment. For, as the bread of the Eucharist, 
after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, is no longer 
mere bread, but the body of Christ, so this conse- 
crated ointment is no longer mere or common oint- 
ment, but the free gift of Christ, and the presence of 



Errors of the Papacy. ioi 

the very Godhead of the Holy Spirit energetically 
produced." (Cyr. Cat. Mys. iii.) Now no one ever 
supposed that there was diViy physical change in the 
oil of the chrism, but, according to Cyril, it under- 
goes the very same change as the bread of the Euch- 
arist. And he uses language just as strong in de- 
scribing the one as the other. 

But he speaks of a change, and if there is no phys- 
ical change, and if the language means anything, what 
does it mean ? We shall not have far to go for an 
answer. Gregory, of Nyssa, was cotemporary with 
Cyril. He was a bishop, and the consideration in 
which he was held will be apparent from the fact 
that he was charged with the important duty of 
drawing up the Nicene Creed by the Council of 
Constantinople. This creed is an enlargement of 
the creed adopted previously by the Council of Nice. 
The man selected by a general council for such a task 
must have been known to the Church at large, and 
what he says is as good authority as can be found in 
his day. Hear him : " This altar before which we 
stand, is physically mere common stone, differing 
nothing from the stones of which our houses are 
built ; but after it has been consecrated by benedic- 
tion to the service of God, it becomes a holy table, 
a sanctified altar. In like ma7t7ter, the eucharistic 
bread is originally mere common bread ; but when 
it is consecrated in the holy mystery, it becomes, 
and is called, the body of Christ. Thus^ also, the 
mystic oil and wine, though of small value before 
the benediction, work wonders after their sanctifica- 
tion by the Spirit. The same power of consecration, 
likewise, imprints a new and honorable character 



102 Lecture VI. 

upon a priest, when, by a new benediction, he is 
separated from the laity." (Greg. Nys. de Bap. op., 
vol. 3.) According to the illustrious cotemporary 
of Cyril, the change wrought upon the elements in 
the sacrament is the same as that produced in the 
stone of an altar when it is dedicated, or as that of 
the oil of the chrism when it is blessed, or the minis- 
ter when he is ordained. It is not a change of sub- 
stance^ but of use and signification — not di physical, 
but k moral change. 

But Cyril shall speak still further himself in ex- 
planation of his own language : '' If the Lord shall 
deem thee worthy, thou shalt hereafter know that 
the body of Christ, according to the gos'^oX, sustained 
the type of breads (Cyr. Cat. xiii.) And again : 
'* With all assurance let us partake as of the body 
and blood of Christ. For, under the type of breads 
his body is given to thee, and, under the type of wine , 
his blood is given to thee ; that so thou mayest par- 
take of the body and blood of Christ, beiytg one body 
and one blood with him.'' (Cyr. Cat. Mys. iv.) The 
following observations upon this last passage will 
occur to any man of common sense. The body and 
blood of Christ are given to us typically, in bread 
and wine, and so we partake AS of his body and 
blood. So fully and plainly does this Father explain 
his own metaphor, and yet, in spite of all, men will 
persist in giving his language a liberal interpretation. 

There will be no difference between men of com- 
mon sense in what I am about to state. A writer once 
having explained his language on a certain subject, 
and in a certain connection, to be figurative, when- 
ever the same language is used by him, on the same 



Errors of the Papacy. 103 

subject^ and m the same connection^ it is always fig- 
urative. But Cyril has shown that he uses the terms, 
the body and blood of Christy on the subject of the 
Eucharist^ and in connection with the reception of the 
Sacrament^ in a typical sense. These words, then, 
in this posture, are always to be understood typically. 
Demonstration can not be more convincing. The 
Patriarch of Jerusalem never taught the physical 
change of the elements. 

But the direct testijnony of the Fathers against 
transubstantiation is abundant, and I shall proceed 
to give you extracts sufficiently copious to satisfy 
the most exorbitant demand. 

Clement, of Alexandria, in the second century, 
is good authority. He says : " Inasmuch as Christ 
declared, that the bread which I give you is my flesh ; 
and inasmuch as flesh is irrigated by blood, there- 
fore the wine is allegorically called blood. * * * 
For the word is allegorically designated by many 
different names, such as meat, and flesh, and nourish- 
ment, and bread, and blood, and milk ; for the Lord 
is all things for the enjoyment of us who have be- 
lieved in him. Nor let any one think that we speak 
strangely when we say that milk is allegorically 
called the blood of the Lord, for is not wine likewise 
allegorically called by the very same appellation ? " 
(Clem. Alex. Ped., lib. i, c. 6.) And again, " The 
Scripture, then, has named wine a mystic symbol of 
the holy blood, * * -^^ For be well assured 
that Christ also himself partook of wine, inasmuch 
as he also was a man. He moreover blessed the 
wine, saying, ' Take, eat, this is my blood, the blood 
of the wine.' The consecrated liquor of exhilara- 



I04 Lecture VI. 

tion, then, allegorically represents the blood who 
poured himself out on behalf of many for the re- 
mission of sins." (Ibid., lib. ii. c. 2.) 

Tertullian, Avhose ministry commenced in the sec- 
ond century, and closed in the third, says : '■' God, 
in your gospel, has so revealed the matter, calling 
the bread his own body, that you may hence un- 
derstand how he gave bread to be the figure of his 
own body ; which body, conversely, the prophet has 
figuratively called bread." (Tert. adv. Marc, lib. iii.) 
Again, (Ibid., lib. i,) '' Christ reprobated neither the 
water of the Creator, with which he washes his peo- 
ple, nor the oil with which he anoints them, nor the 
fellowship of honey and milk, with which he feeds 
them as infants, nor the bread by which he represents 
his own body, for even in his own sacraments he 
needs the beggarly elements of the Creator." Fi- 
nally, from the same (Ten de Anim) : ^' For we must 
not call the senses in question, lest we should doubt 
respecting their fidelity in the case of Christ of him- 
self ; because, if we question the fidelity of our 
senses, we might, perhaps, be led to say that Christ 
delusively beheld Satan cast down from heaven, or 
delusively heard the voice of the Father testifying 
of him, or was deceived when he touched Peter's 
mother-in-law, or smelt a different odor of the oint- 
ment which he received for his sepulture, or tasted 
a different flavor of the wine which he consecrated 
in memory of his own blood." In the second of 
these passages from Tertullian, allusion is made to 
certain ceremonies then used, which are not found 
in Scripture, so early did the tendency to render the 
cerernonies imposing manifest itself. How soon the 



Errors of the Papacy. 105 

Church began to be corrupted from the simplicity 
of Christ ! 

I will now introduce Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage 
in the third century, to you. He was a man of 
great distinction, and a great favorite amongst the 
clergy, and unquestionably expresses the views of 
the Church in his time. He wrote about the mid- 
dle of the century. Alluding to the custom of mix- 
ing water with the wine of the sacrament, he says : 
" By water we perceive that the people is intended ; 
but by wine, we may observe that the blood of Christ 
is shown forthr (Cyp. Ep. Cecil, Ixiii.) 

Chrysostom is a name familiar to the Christian 
world. Of distinguished parentage, himself a suc- 
cessful lawyer, he at length gave himself to the min- 
istry, and was elevated to the Patriarchate of Con- 
stantinople, A. D. 398. He says (Com. in Ep. ad. 
Gal. c. v) : " Under the name of flesh, Scripture is 
wont alike to set forth both the mysteries and the 
whole Church, for it says that they are each the body 
of Christ. Wherefore let there approach not Judas, 
partaking of the poison of iniquity, for the Eucha- 
rist IS sp iritiial food. 

You need not be told who the Bishop of Hippo 
was. Three years before Chrysostom was made Pa- 
triarch, Augustine was ordained to the episcopal 
office. He is the most celebrated of all the Chris- 
tian Fathers. '' The Lord," says he, " when he gave 
the sign of his body, did not doubt to say. This is 
my body." (Aug. Cont. Adimant., c. xii.) '^ In the 
history of the New Testament, so great and so mar- 
velous was the patience of the Lord that, bearing 
with Judas, though not ignorant of his purpose, he 



io6 Lecture VI. 

admitted him to the banquet, in which he com- 
mended and dehvered to his disciples the figure of 
his own body and bloods (Enarr. in Ps. iii.) '* Christ 
instructed his disciples, and said unto them. It is 
the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth noth- 
ing. The words which I speak unto you are spirit 
and life. As if he had said, Understand spiritually 
what I have spoken. You are not about to eat this 
identical body which you see, and you are not about 
to drink this identical blood, which they who cru- 
cify me will pour out. On the contrary, I have com- 
mended a certain sacrament to you, which will vivify 
you, if spiritually understood. Though it must be 
celebrated visibly, it must be understood invisibly." 
(Enarr. in Ps. xc. viii.) 

Do you want more ? I give you Gelasius — good 
authority with Romanists, certainly, for he was a 
Pope of Rome in the fifth century ; and, as for me, 
I acknowledge my obligations to him. " Certainly," 
he says, '' the sacrament of the body and the blood 
of the Lord, which we receive, are a divine thing, 
because by these all are made partakers of the di- 
vine nature. Nevertheless, the substance or nature 
of the bread and wine ceases not to exist ; and, assur- 
edly, the image and similitude of the body and blood 
of Christ are celebrated in the action of the mys- 
teries." (Gel. de duab. Ch. Nat. Cont. Nest, et Eu.) 
Hear Facundus, a century later : '' The sacrament 
of adoption may be called a.dopti on, just as the sac- 
rament of the body and blood of Christ, which is 
in the consecrated bread and wine, we are wont to 
call his body and blood. Not, indeed, that the 
bread is properly his body, or that the wine Xs prop- 



Errors of the Papacy. 107 

erly his blood, but because they contain the mys- 
tery of his body and blood within themselves. 
Hence it was that our Lord denominated the con- 
secrated bread and wine, which he delivered to his 
disciples, his own body and blood." (Fac. Def. Con. 
Chalad.) 

I will give you but one quotation more. It is 
from Theodoret, in the fifth century. He wrote a 
dialogue, in which the speakers are Erranistes, a 
Eutychian heretic, and Orthodoxus, who, as his 
name imports, is the representative of the true faith. 
He makes Orthodoxus say to his interlocutor, '' You 
are caught in your own net ; for the mystic sym- 
bols, after consecration, pass not out of their own 
nature, inasmuch as they still remain in their orig- 
inal substance, and form, and appearance; and they 
may be seen and touched, just as they were before 
consecration. But they are understood to be what 
they become ; and they are venerated as being those 
things which they are believed to be. Compare, 
therefore, the image y^i'&i the archetype, and you will 
perceive their resemblance, for the type must needs 
be similar to the truth." 

But I have wearied you with quotations. It is 
high time to stop. I have given you chief names 
among the Fathers down to the sixth century. Their 
language needs no comment. If they sometimes 
call the bread and wine the body and blood of Christ, 
they abundantly explain that they understand it to 
be allegorically , figuratively , typically, representatively 
so, and not substantially and physically. 

We have ascertained, then, this unquestionable 
fact, that transubstantiation was not received in the 



io8 Lecture VI. 

early Church. It remains for us to ascertain its 
origin and trace its history ; and in doing so, I have 
no difficult task. 

Eutyches, a monk of Constantinople, seems fairly 
entitled to the distinction of originating the idea. 
He held a physical change in the elements, and, so 
far as I can ascertain, was the first who maintained 
that view. He became the leader of a heretical sect 
which is known by his name in history. Theodoret 
and Pope Gelasius, already quoted, contended man- 
fully against the heresy. And the fact is suggestive 
that when the notion of a substantial transmutation 
of the bread and wine was first broached, a Pooe of 
Rome entered the lists against it. Notwithstanding 
the Papal confutation, however, Eutychianism con- 
tinued to spread. The heresy originated in th.Q fifth 
century. About the middle of the succeeding one, 
Ephrem, of Antioch, took up the cudgel against it, 
and asserted, and argued, and proved that the body 
of Christ, which is received by the faithful, does not 
depart from its oivn sensible substance. 

Still the heretical doctrine held its ground, and, 
indeed, gained ground. In 754 it was discussed in 
a council, held in Constantinople, and condemned. 
Twenty-three years later, in 787, the second Council 
of Nice decided it orthodox, and denied the Council 
of Constantinople " the name of a council." Still, 
liowever, the idea was in a crude, undigested state, 
and had many vicissitudes to pass through before it 
could reach canonical dignity. 

In the ninth century, Pascasius, or Paschase, of 
Corby, seized upon the idea, defined it better, and 
sustained it more elaborately, than any of his pre- 



Errors of the Papacy. 109 

decessors had done. Cardinal Eellarmine, indeed, 
says he " was the first who wrote seriously and 
copiously concerning the truth of Christ's body and 
blood in the Eucharist." Sirmond makes the same 
statement in substance. 

The previous indorsement of the doctrine by the 
Council of Nice seems not to have been much re- 
spected at this time. The writings of Pascasius 
brought out a vast array of powerful opponents, and 
the people were very much divided. ' Raban Mauras, 
Archbishop of Mentz, writes, ^' Some persons of late, 
not entertaining a sound opinion respecting the 
sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord, have 
actually ventured to declare that this is the identical 
body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ ; the iden- 
tical body, to-wit : which was born of the Virgin 
Mary ; in which Christ suffered on the cross, and in 
which he rose from the dead. Tkzs error we have 
opposed with all our might.'' The Archbishop was 
one of the most learned and widely known of the 
ecclesiastics of his time. Bertramn and Scotus, 
under the patronage of the French King, Carolus, 
entered warmly into the contest against Pascasius. 
The writings of these men were well known and 
widely disseminated, and they were not condemned 
by any ecclesiastical authority for heresy, nor were 
their writings placed under any ban as being her- 
etical. So you see that in the ninth century it was 
no proof of heresy that a man denied the doctrine 
of transubstantiation. These lectures would not 
have proven me a heretic at that period. Besides 
those already given, many other distinguished names 
appear in the controversial traces of that age against 



no Lecture VI. 

the theory of Pascasius, such as Florus, Walafrid, 
Prudentius, Frudegard and Herebald. 

By the way, the writings of Bertramn, on this sub- 
ject, did reach the honor of condemnation by a 
General Council, but it was a long time afterwards. 
The General Council of Trent, in the sixteenth 
century, placed the seal of heresy upon it, and it 
went into the fatal prohibitory index. 

Little is known of the progress of the dogma from 
the ninth to the eleventh century. At that time 
the controversy waked up again, and, with this 
difference, that by this time it had become heresy 
to oppose it ; and this other, also, that the former 
controversies originated with the friends, and this 
with an opposer, of the theory. 

Berengarius attacked the Pascasian doctrine in 
1045. His views were popular in France, Italy and 
England. He would probably have carried the day, 
but the Pope, and many of the higher ecclesiastics, 
were against him. In Germany his opinions made 
but little headway. The Pope, Nicholas, called a 
Council in the Lateran Church, at Rome, and cited 
the troublesome heretic to attend. He came, and 
conquered. Nothing could stand against the power 
with which he reasoned. No man could answer 
him. Nicholas urged the bishops in vain. In this 
extremity he sent off for Alberic, a cardinal and a 
great scholar. Berengarius met the fresh champion 
but to triumph. 

But the victor was vanquished at last. The 
Papacy had, by this time, become master of a very 
forcible species of logic, which it brought to bear 
upon Berengarius — ignited wood. This was a con- 



Errors of the Papacy. hi 

elusive answer against all Scripture and all reason, 
and it confuted Berengarius completely, or at least 
it silenced him. This hot demonstration brought 
him to himself so fully that he agreed to subscribe 
such a confession as the Council might prescribe. 
Accordingly he did subscribe a formulary, drawn up 
by Hambert, under the direction of the Council, 
and containing this declaration : " The bread and 
wine on the altar are the Lord's real body and 
blood, which, not only in a sacramental but also in 
a sensible manner, are broken by the hands of the 
priest and ground by the teeth of the faithful." 
What revolting language ! the body of the Lord, in 
a sensible msinnQr, ground by the teeth of the faithful! 
I believe some more recent authorities direct the 
communicant not to chew it. 

But it turned out that Berengarius' hand only had 
been converted. Such arguments do sometimes 
convert men's hands, but not the soul ! not the 
reason ! A similar conversion occurred in Rome 
some centuries later. A great astronomer was cited 
to answer the charge of heresy. He taught that the 
earth moved. The converting instruments were 
shaken at Galileo, and he was converted — in the 
hand — and signed the recantation. But the soul's 
protest uttered itself, in an undertone, " It moves 
for all that ! " The energy of a suppressed volcano 
was in that undertone. 

With a soul unconvinced, the convert of the Vat- 
ican went home to denounce the inhuman methods by 
which his tongue and his hand had been forced to lie 
against his soul. Berengarius' character would have 
been complete if he had only been brave enough to 



112 Lecture VI. 

die for the truth. Under French protection he kept up 
the controversy for twenty years, until in 1078, Gregory 
the Seventh, now in the Papal chair, assembled an- 
other Council to decide the matter more definitely. 
The decision of this assembly proves that his argu- 
ments had produced their effect, for he was allowed 
to repudiate the confession he had so unwillingly 
signed twenty years before, and substitute the 
declaration that '' the bread and wine, after conse- 
cration, became the Lord's true body and blood." 
This he could interpret spiritually, and so he made 
no objection to it. But many of the clergy were 
dissatisfied. They said the confession was equivo- 
cal. 

The Pope, however, befriended Berengarius, and 
that, notwithstanding he was condemned by a synod 
of thirty Bishops, assembled at Brescia, for doing so. 
They denounced him, and he anathematized them. 
He doubted not that his friend held the true doc- 
trine, but, to make " assurance doubly sure," he went 
and asked the Virgin Mary about it, and she told 
him that " nothing should be acknowledged on this 
subject but what is contained in authentic Scripture." 
I must take this opportunity to express my acknowl- 
edgments to the Virgin for the sound Protestant 
principles she held in the Eleventh Century. I 
doubt not she maintains them still. 

But the disaffected clergy made it so hot about 
the Pope that he had to call yet another Council in 
the following year, 1079. -^^ ^^^^ time, Berengarius 
was required to confess that the change was " not 
merely sacramental and figurative, but also true and 
substantial." 



Errors of the Papacy. 113 

But transubstantiation was not even yet regularly 
installed as a canon of the Church. The three 
Councils had more to do with individuals than with 
canons. Not for one hundred and thirty-six years 
did it reach canonical dignity. At the Lateran 
Council, in 121 5, it took its place among the canons, 
all duly guarded with anathemas, and, with such 
sanctions, enjoined upon the faithful. 

But, you will ask, how on earth was it that this 
dogma ever gained ground against such powerful and 
enlightened opposition ? Observe several facts. It 
gained slowly. From the time the crude idea came 
out of the cell of the Monk Eutyches until it was 
defined and enacted into a canon, was a period of 
near eight hundred years. And that was the very 
period when the world went into the night of the 
Middle Ages. It may be said truly, that transub- 
stantiation originated in the dusk, and culminated 
at the midnight of that gloomy period. There were 
some great and learned men, but the bulk of both 
clergy and laity wxre in gross ignorance. Immoral- 
ity abounded, even in the high places of ecclesiastic- 
al dignity. Consult Baronius, himself a Papist, if 
you would know the repulsive history of those times. 
Religion degenerated into superstition. And this is 
the key to the success of transubstantiation. It is 
the very thing for superstition. It belongs to the 
very species of mystic absurdity that suits the mor- 
bid, superstitious appetite. 

I have shown you that the great minds of the 
Roman Church surrender the sixth chapter of John, 
and that many of them relinquish the scriptural ar- 
gument entirely. I have gone to the Fathers. 



114 Lecture VI. 

They know nothing of this dogma for more than 
four hundred years. I have shown you when it was 
born, and that it had its parentage in an admitted 
heresy. You have heard the testimony of a Pope 
against the stranger upon its first appearance. You 
have seen it traced through an unfriended childhood, 
a turbulent youthful period, and, finally, you have 
seen it reach maturity in the thick darkness of the 
middle age. It retains to-day the complexion of 
that darkness. Its claims to credence and respect I 
leave you to decide. 

I take my leave of transubstantiation. I have ex- 
amined it in the light of reason. I have tried it by 
its fruits. I have brought it to trial as an assumed 
miracle. I have subjected it to the test of history. 
A universal verdict comes against it from every jur- 
or. I have solemnly referred the ultimate decision 
to the Bible. It seeks protection in the literal in- 
terpretation of the words of institution. And I de- 
clare to you now, at the close of this discussion, that 
you cannot find a man in St. Louis, priest or lay- 
man, who will say that the words of institution are 
strictly literal. I am willing to leave it to any man 
of good character, who knows any thing of the prin- 
ciples of language. He may be a Protestant or Ro- 
manist, I care not which. You cannot find one 
man, such as I have described, who will deny that 
the words of institution are, in part, at least, figur- 
ative. If you can find such a man, I desire greatly 
to see him. I give you a month to make the effort. 
Our Saviour said of the cup, ** This is my blood." 
What ! of the cup ? the vessel ? Oh, no ! of course ; 
the wine that was in it. Here is a metonymy. Why 



Errors of the Papacy. 115 

may there not also be a metaphor ? As I showed in 
a former lecture, all sentences of the same charac- 
ter are metaphorical. This, too, is a metaphor. The 
bread and wine represent him, and we eat and drink 
in remembrance of him. 

The dogma has one single prop remaining — the 
creed-making authority of '' the Church." I will de- 
vote a few lectures to this assumption, beginning, 
next Sunday evening, with the infallibility of the 
Church as it appears in history. 



ii6 Lecture VII. 



LECTURE VIL 

THE QUESTION OF THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE CHURCH 
CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY. 

" But shun profane and vain babblings ; for they will increase unto 
more ungodliness." — 2 Tim. ii, 16. 

I HAVE proven to you, in preceding lectures, that 
every refuge of transubstantiatioii, so far as the 
examination has proceeded, fails. Only one is left — 
the assumed creed-making authority of the Church. 
If, indeed, the Roman Church has divine authority to 
establish canons of Christianity definitely, and if her 
ecclesiastical legislation in questions of doctrine is 
infallible, then this dogma is true, for she has decreed 
it so. But if her assumptions on this subject are un- 
founded, and in the face of the word of God, if they 
are unsupported by facts, and inconsistent with facts, 
then every doctrine which rests simply upon this basis 
must go by the board. In that case transubstantia- 
tion, denied by the Scriptures, repudiated by the Fa- 
thers, and spurned by common sense, fails of its last 
support, and is ruined forever. 

The Papal Church claims authority, not only to in- 
terpret Scripture, but also to establish doctrines not 
taught in the Bible ; that is, to supply the deficien- 
cies of that book. Communion in one kind, or with- 
holding the wine from the laity in the Lord's Supper, 
is an instance. No one can pretend to Scripture au- 



Errors of the Papacy. 117 

thority for this, but the Church maintains the right 
to do it, and in this she assumes not simply the right 
to make a new dogma unknown to Scripture, but to 
interfere with and change the form of a sacrament as 
it was estabUshed by Christ and practiced by the 
apostles. And if transubstantiation be true, it fol- 
lows that the voice of the Church is authoritative, 
not only in the silence of Scripture, but against 
Scripture. For I have shown clearly that Scripture 
is directly against that doctrine. 

If the creed-making prerogative belongs to the 
Church, then must the Church be infallible. For if 
the Church can err, then is she not entitled to belief 
in matters of doctrine ? I shall devote a few lectures 
to this extraordinary claim of the Roman Church. 

This evening I ask your attention to the infallibil- 
ity of the Papal Church, as it appears in the light of 
history. 

If the Church be infallible, it must have some rec- 
ognized and divinely authorized organ of expression for 
its authoritative decisions. Otherwise we can never 
know what to depend upon. Now, I believe it has 
not yet been settled what that organ is. Some of 
them hold it to be the Pope, and they differ among 
themselves as to the conditions under which his de- 
cisions are infallible. Others suppose General Coun- 
cils to be the organ of the Church's infallibility. 
Others again hold that the decision of a General 
Council, with the concurrence of the reigning Pontiff, 
are the unerring standard of doctrine. And yet an- 
other party, a small one, suppose this attribute to be 
diffused throughout the entire Church. We have a 



ii8 Lecture VII. 

right to say to them : " Gentlemen, settle this dispute 
among yourselves before you obtrude your assump- 
tion upon us. If your Church is, indeed, infallible, 
you can certainly find out what the organ of its de- 
cision is. Otherwise its infallibility must be wholly 
unavailable. It might as well not exist as that we 
should not know where to find it. Possibly we may 
make a fatal blunder in supposing that some particu- 
lar organ speaks for the Church when it does not, 
and so be led to destruction." But the argument 
we postpone for future consideration, and hasten to 
exhibit some specimens of Roman infallibility from 
authentic history. 

This Church claims to have existed in unbroken 
continuity from the time of the apostles to this day, 
and to have been infallible all the while. This being 
the case, we must find absolute uniformity of doctrine 
in her entire history. Any break, any contradiction 
of herself, is fatal to her claim. If she has to-day 
taught a certain dogma, and to-morrow repudiated 
and anathematized the same dogma, her claim is 
thereby infallibly disproved. 

The Monk Eutyches, of Constantinople, in the fifth 
century, held a theory, in respect to the person of 
Christ, which is denominated Monophysitism. The 
tlieory was that the human and divine natures coa- 
lesced in the person of Christ, and so formed but one 
nature. A Provincial Council at Constantinople con- 
demned it, and another at Ephesus sustained it. After- 
wards, at the request of Pope Leo, the Emperor Mar- 
cian called a General Council at Chalcedon, the object 
being to fix the brand of heresy on Monophysitism. 



Errors of the Papacy. 119 

A letter from Leo was read in the Council and has- 
tily approved. In approving it they condemned the 
Eutychian notion. But when they proceeded to 
formal action on the subject, they made a confession 
ill support of it, and that with great unanimity. The 
Emperor was displeased, but the Council was obsti- 
nate. But Imperial authority knew how to make 
itself respected, and it forced the Holy Fathers into 
terms, and prescribed a formulary which condemned 
the followers of Eutyches. And the Council at last 
reluctantly submitted, and so made Eutyches a her- 
etic. A scene of great confusion followed throughout 
the extent of the Church. Ecclesiastical dignitaries, 
from the highest to the lowest, arranged themselves 
— some on one side and some on the other. In the 
following century the Empress Theodosia entered 
into an agreement with Vigilus that she would make 
a Pope of him if he would become a Monophysite. It 
was all done according to the programme, and, in St. 
Peter's stead, he denounced the Chalcedonian confes- 
sion, and indorsed the faith of Eutyches. Bellarmine 
maintains that he was a good orthodox Pope, and 
only pretefided y\'h.QYi he made this public confession. 
This I call hypocrisy inverted. I believe, however, 
according to the Romish theory, if a Pope is infalli- 
ble, it is in his official, and not in \iis private, charac- 
ter. Officially, he was a Eutychian, and so all of his 
infallibility, be it more or less, was against the Gen- 
eral Council of Chalcedon, and at war with the infal- 
libility of his predecessors. The name of another 
Pope, Martin, in the seventh century, is enrolled 
amongst the advocates of this heresy ; and he was 



120 Lecture VII. 

supported by a Roman Synod. And the various con- 
tending parties, both councils and dignitaries, cursed 
one another most devoutly and furiously. Here you 
have one picture, to the life, so far as it goes, but yet 
not fully drawn, of the infallibility of the Church. 
Do you admire it .'* 

Early in the seventh century there was another 
speculation respecting the nature of our Lord, which 
gave the Church an opportunity to fall into self-con- 
tradiction — an opportunity which was duly improved. 
Monothelitism taught that Christ had no human will. 
He had but one will, and that proceeded from his 
divine nature. Honorius, a Pope of Rome, pro- 
nounced it orthodox in a solemn manner, from Peter's 
Chair. A Roman Synod supported his decision. 
After the most furious contentions, during a period 
of more than half a century, the Emperor called a 
General Council at Constantinople to settle the dis- 
pute, infallibly. It was composed of about two hun- 
dred clergy, and was smaller than many Provincial 
Councils. The Emperor presided, attended by his 
Councilors of State. He, in fact, controlled the entire 
proceedings of the Council. They decreed against 
Monothelitism, and anathematized his Holiness, Pope 
Honorius, pronouncing him the agent of the devil. 
An infallible Lateran Council declared him to be the 
Vicar-General of Christ. So it seems that, for once, 
at least, the Prince of Light and he of Darkness were 
represented on earth in the same distinguished per- 
sonage. Here is a second picture of infallibility. 

Perhaps the gravest of the early controversies of 
the Church was that which arose in reference to the 



Errors of the Papacy. 121 

Arian heresy. Arius denied the divinity of the Son 
of God. lie was condemned by a Council held at 
Alexandria, and sustained by another at Bythinia. 
Afterwards, a General Council was convoked at Nice, 
which condemned the new doctrine. Afterwards the 
controversy raged for many years. Many Councils 
met and denounced each other. Several of them 
claimed to be Gerieral, though most of them were 
Provincial bodies. The Second Council of Sirmium 
issued an Arian Confession of Faith, which was in- 
dorsed by Pope Liberius. This is admitted by Maim- 
bourg, a Jesuit. The whole weight of history is in 
proof of the fact. A few writers of recent times have 
made a feeble effort to deny it. One of them, Baro- 
nius, admits, however, that he condemned the cele- 
brated Trinitarian champion, Athanasius, and com- 
muned with the Arians. 

Now, according to the four theories which divide 
the Papal Church in reference to infallibility, that 
infallibility did once pronounce in favor of Arian- 
ism. For, if the Pope is the organ of infallibility, 
this heresy enjoys such indorsement in the official 
act of Liberius. If a General Council is that organ, 
that of Sirmium is certainly better entitled to that 
character than some others to which it is conceded, 
and it indorsed this creed. If the concurrence of 
Pope and Council is the condition in which the latent 
infallibility finds a voice, the condition is found here, 
for Liberius and the Council of Sirmium concurred 
in establishing the Arian heresy as the genuine 
Christian creed. And nothing is more certain than 
that the Church at large had embraced the heresy at 



122 Lecture VII. 

one time. Jerome says, " The whole world groaned 
and wondered to find itself become Arian." So that, 
if infallibility is diffused through the whole Church, 
it is certain that Arianism was once infallible. By 
all of the four theories, or by any one of them, we 
discover the infallibility of that pestilent heresy. 

This Arian Pope, Liberius, however, deserves more 
special mention. When he assumed the Pontificate 
he was a good Trinitarian. The Arian Emperor, 
Constantius, banished him, for his obstinacy in the 
orthodox faith, to Berea. In his absence Felix was 
elected in his place. Felix was an inveterate Arian. 
Liberius, becoming anxious to sit in Peter's chair 
again, was converted to the dominant heresy, and re- 
turned in triumph to his dignities, though at the cost 
of blood, for he had to fight his way back to his office. 
Felix at last, however, yielded, and these two fight- 
ing Arian Popes are good Roman saints to-day. 
Less than three hundred years ago the calendar was 
revised, and Baronius thought Felix ought to be ex- 
cluded from the list of saints. It would have been a 
bad business to oust him after he had been so long 
in heaven. So the Pope determined that he should 
have a fair trial. He appointed Baronius for the 
prosecution, and Santorio for the defense. Baronius 
proved him guilty of heresy and perjury, and Santo- 
rio began to tremble for his client, and so betook 
himself to prayer, not to God, but to the very saint 
whose saintship was at stake. And certainly, if any 
divinity, great or small, might have been expected to 
interest himself in the case, it was Felix. And so 
he did, indeed, if we may believe the story ; for he 



Errors of the Papacy. 123 

was just preparing to descend and demonstrate his 
claims, when a lucky accident saved him the trip. 
A marble coffin was just then discovered, bearing 
this inscription : " The body of Saint Felix, who con- 
demned Constantius." 

You will be struck with the infallibility of the 
Church in this whole Arian history, from the con- 
flicting decisions of Councils, and the alternate 
anathemas of Popes, first on one side and then on 
the other, down to the canonization of Felix. 

For want of time I forbear. What I have said 
will answer as a mere specimen of the infallible con- 
tradictions which abound in the history of the Church. 
I must leave you to decide for yourselves their bear- 
ing upon the question of infallibility. 

It may be pertinent to examine some of the doc- 
trines imposed at different times on the Church by 
her councils. The second Council of Nice taught 
that angels and spirits have bodies of a very subli- 
mated substance. That of Vienna held that the 
soul is of the same substance and form as the body. 
And this was indorsed by a Lateran Council. Here 
is materialism as gross as possible enacted into a 
dogma of religion. 

A fanatical story of a monk, who was put upon his 
oath by the devil to keep a secret, and then divulged 
it to his abbot, was received with emphatic appro- 
bation by the second Council of Nice. The devil, it 
seems, desired the monk to give up the worship of a 
statue of the Virgin with her Son in her arms. The 
abbot told him he had better visit all the brothels in 
the city than discontinue his devotions. And the 



124 Lecture VII. 

Council indorsed that. It was this same ecclesias- 
tical legislature which first gave countenance to im- 
age-worship. 

You may say these things belong to the past. I 
am not so sure of that. The use of images in wor- 
ship is still retained. But even if they did belong 
exclusively to the past, it would not then affect the 
argument. If the chain of infallibility does not ex- 
tend the whole distance back to the apostles, it is 
good for nothing. Snap it anywhere along its whole 
length, and it is destroyed. If it was ever fallible, it 
may be so now. If it was so once, it must be so al- 
ways. A General Council held that the worship of 
a statue of the Virgin and her Son was so necessary 
that it were better to be a whoremonger than to 
omit it. According to the theory of infallibility the 
whole Roman Church is forever committed to that 
doctrine. Materialism is fastened upon it in the 
same way. There is no escaping but by giving up 
this tremendous claim. It will not do to say that 
the Church teaches other and opposite doctrines, nor 
that she now holds the truth on those points, even if 
she does. For then you have a ''house divided 
against itself." 

I shall now ask your attention to the character of 
Councils, Popes, and the Church at large, during a 
considerable period, as bearing upon this question. 

Gregory Nazianzen says of the first Council of 
Constantinople, recognized as Ecumenical by Popish 
writers, that it was a " cabal of wretches, fit for the 
house of correction ; fellows newly taken from the 
plow, the spade, the oar, and the army." The Coun- 



Errors of the Papacy. 125 

cil of Chalcedon is of equal authority with the for- 
mer, in the estimation of Romanists. It resembled 
a frantic mob more than a Christian assembly. Ac- 
cording to Du Pin, a Romanist, the presence of Im- 
perial commissioners was necessary to prevent it 
from becoming a noisy tumult. When Theodoret 
and Dioscorus entered, a deafening uproar com- 
menced ; one party shouting like madmen, ** Put out 
Theodoret!" "Put out the master of Nestorius ! " 
" Out with the enemy of God, and the blasphemer 
of his Son ! " " Put out the Jew ! " " Long life to 
the Emperor and Empress ! " These cries mingled 
with equal vociferation from the other party : " Put 
out Dioscorus ! " " Put out the assassin ! " '* Put 
out the Manichean ! " " Out with the enemy of 
heaven and of the faith ! " Imagine six hundred 
voices yelling thus in angry responses to each other 
at once, and then believe, if you can, that the pas- 
sionate rabble were creed-makers of an infallible 
Church. Still more disgraceful and violent scenes 
were enacted in the third Council of Constantinople. 
Macarius, refusing to yield his opinions, was attacked 
with fury. Both he and Stephen were driven out of 
the assembly by violence and force, and amid clam- 
orous execrations and cursing. Besides all this, the 
enactments of these Councils were dictated by the 
Emperors who called them. If there was infallibility 
in the case, it was in the Imperial will, and not in the 
ecclesiastical creatures of that will. 

A Pope of the suggestive name, htnoceiit^ having 
held a General Council in Lyons, had a farewell ad- 
dress delivered to the citizens, on taking his leave of 



126 Lecture VII. 

them, by Cardinal Hugo. In the course of his speech 
the Cardinal said : " Friends, we have effected a work 
of great utility and charity in this city. When we 
came to Lyons we found three or four brothels in it, 
and we have left but one at our departure. But this 
extends, without interruption, from the eastern to the 
western gate of the city." A member of the Coun- 
cil of Constance declares that the clergy " were near- 
ly all under the power of the devil, and mocked all 
religion by external devotion and Pharisaic hypocrisy. 
The prelacy, actuated only by malice, iniquity, pride, 
vanity, ignorance, lasciviousness, avarice, pomp, si- 
mony, and dissimulation, had exterminated Catholicism 
and extinguished piety." A horrible picture ! We 
might suppose it overdrawn by a disaffected man, 
but for specific facts which add yet deeper blackness, 
if that be possible. There were some fifteen hundred 
meretricious women in attendance upon the Council, 
making about one and a half to each member. 
" Their word will increase to more ungodliness." 

And they tell us these were Councils of the only 
holy. Catholic, Apostolic Church ! God's Infallible 
Assemblies to manufacture Articles of Faith ! They 
tell us the Pope is the head of the Church. Surely 
we shall find decency at least in the head of the in- 
fallible body. Let us go back some eight hundred 
years or more, and begin with Benedict, raised to the 
Pontificate in 1033, when he was ten or twelve years 
old. He was a debauchee, a sorcerer, and a devil- 
worshiper. In J 044 he was violently deprived of his 
office, and Sylvester was made Pope. But Benedict 
managed to regain his dignities in three months. 



Errors of the Papacy. 127 

And now can you guess what followed ? The head- 
ship of the infallible Church was traded off for fifteen 
hundred pounds. John was the purchaser. But the 
seller could not content himself long. By force of 
arms he sought to regain his place, and he and John 
and Sylvester effected a compromise, divided the ec- 
clesiastical revenues between them, and established 
themselves, one in the Lateran, one in the Vatican, 
and one in St. Mary's. What sort of a thing was 
the head of the Church then.'* ''A three-headed 
beast,'' says good Papal authority. The three Popes 
spent their time in debauchery. 

At last Gratian bought out all three of them, and 
obtained his own election. He assumed the title of 
Gregory the Sixth, and there were four living suc- 
cessors of Peter at one time. 

But we must go back a little further, and make 
the acquaintance of John the Twelfth, in the tenth 
century. Bellarmine says, " He was nearly the wick- 
edest of the Popes." He was tried before a Synod, 
and convicted of blasphemy, perjury, profanation, 
impiety, simony, sacrilege, adultery, incest, constu- 
pration, and murder — a black list of crimes for God's 
representative on earth. He killed Benedict by put- 
ting his eyes out, cut off one cardinal's hand, and an- 
other's nose. He lived publicly in adultery, com- 
mitted incest with his father's concubine, invoked 
Jupiter and Venus, and drank a health to the devil. 
He was deposed, but found means to recover the 
pontificate. He was the recognized Vicar of God 
when he was caught in adultery and killed, Luitprand 
says, by the devil ; others have supposed, with more 



128 Lecture VII. 

reason, that it was the outraged husband who dis- 
patched him. It seems hardly probable that the 
devil would kill a man who was on such cordial terms 
with him as to drink his health. Such compliments 
are so rare with him, I imagine, as to be better ap- 
preciated. And, besides, I should suppose he would 
be pleased with such a Pope as John on general 
grounds, and desire rather to perpetuate than to cut 
off his pontificate. He could scarcely hope to find 
one who would suit him better. John was guilty of 
a crime that I have not brass enough to specify be- 
fore an audience. 

And there was a worse Pope than he, of the same 
name, John the Twenty-third. He was as corrupt 
in morals, and, besides that, an avowed Infidel. He 
rejected all the truths of Christianity, and made no 
secret of it. He was a full-grown Infidel, if not an 
Atheist. The Council of Constance, itself not so 
very pure, as we have seen, was disgusted with him, 
and called him ** an incarnate devil." They found 
him guilty of "all mortal sins, and an infinity of 
abominations!' Depravity seems to have culminated 
in the character of the Popes. History furnishes no 
specimens more finished. From John the Eighth 
to Leo tne Tenth, we are told by writers of their 
own Church, there were one hundred Popes who 
were more properly apostatical than apostolical. 
Consult Baronius, if you would see the revolting pict- 
ure. Why, there was a time when two bad women 
disposed of the Papacy. Theodora and her daughter 
intrigued their adulterous lovers and illegitimate sons 
into St. Peter's chair. 



Errors of the Papacy. 129 

But, you say, these things belong to the past — 
Rome is improving now. Be it so. That is nothing 
to the point in hand. That these things were ever 
so is as fatal to infallibility as if they were so now. 
It is impossible for the Popes to be so unblushingly 
infamous now as they were formerly. But the state 
of things which I have given lasted for centuries, 
and the system of Nepotism was not abolished until 
the era of the Reformation. By Nepotism is meant 
the custom which the Popes established of confer- 
ring on their relations and bastard sons the dig- 
nities and wealth of the Church. This custom was 
in vogue for ages. The moral recuperation of the 
sixteenth century shamed it out of countenance. 

A vast amount of virtuous eloquence has been ex- 
pended, by pious Papal declaimers, in denunciation 
of Luther's marriage. In early life, under the influ- 
ence of that fanaticism which held the world in its 
spell, he took certain monkish vows, including that 
of chastity, which, in its perverted signification, in- 
cluded celibacy. Afterwards, when he had studied 
God's Word, he saw the folly of the vow. He repu- 
diated it, married a chaste woman, and lived with 
her in love and fidelity to their lives' end. What a 
whole-souled heartiness there is in their indignant 
execration of his course ! It is proof to them of the 
dominion of lust in the old Reformer. But his holi- 
ness, the Pope, under the solemn obligations of the 
same vow, and without even repudiating it, is a fit 
head, in their estimation, for an infallible Church. 
They would have you despise Luther for marrying, 
after his vow ; but you must think very reverently of 



I30 Lecture VII. 

the Holy Father, who after his vow, keeps as many 
women as he wants. 

But, I am told, the authority of an infallible 
Church is necessary to restrain the people from fall- 
ing into all manner of ridiculous misbelief and error. 
The varieties of unhappy error — some of them ab- 
surd enough, no doubt, which sprung up after the 
Reformation — are alleged as proof of such necessity. 
But does the Romish Church save her "faithful" 
from the same calamity ! I defy the craziest vaga- 
ries of " the sects " to outdo the Papists in this re- 
spect. A few instructive instances may not be out 
of place. About the commencement of this century, 
the prophetess Clara flourished in Madrid, Spain. 
The people, from the highest to the lowest, went 
crazy after her. Civil Judges sought inspired direc- 
tion for their decisions at her hand. The Pope him- 
self treated her with distinguished consideration. 
About the same time, Beata, in the same country, 
pretended that her body was transubstantiated into 
the body of Christ. This horrible blasphemy ob- 
tained great credit with the clergy and laity. They 
had always been taught that bread and wine are 
changed into the body and blood of our Lord, and 
that superstition opened their minds to this delusion. 
Beata was accompanied by processions and lighted 
tapers, and her believers burnt incense before her, 
and prostrated themselves in humble adoration at 
her feet. Priests were among her worshipers. 

In France Sister Nativity affords us equal edifi- 
cation by her supernatural visions. She pretended 
at one time that she saw a little living child, clothed 



Errors of the Papacy. 131 

with light, in the priest's hands at the consecration 
of the wafer. In infantile tones the babe desired to 
be eaten at once. At another time she saw an in- 
fant on the altar. lis hands were extended, and 
every limb was bleeding, while all nature put on a 
beautiful aspect, and celestial music aided the wor- 
ship of the Church. 

The monkish legends, so popular with Romanists, 
are full of stories equally fanatical and absurd. The 
devil, we are told, thrust his face into the cell of St. 
Dunstan. The saint heated a pair of pinchers, and 
seized his nose, and pulled with all his might. A 
desperate struggle ensued, and the devil roared so 
that it roused the whole neighborhood. At last the 
nose came off, and they do say he has a very fiat one 
ever since. 

Self-inflicted whipping has been much practiced, 
at times, in the Roman Church, as if such chastise- 
ment would cure the evils of depravity. Indeed, it 
is recommended by the Breviary, and has been prac- 
ticed by persons of first distinction. It is not very 
long since a singular fanaticism prevailed in Paris, 
the particulars of which have been preserved by 
Baron Grimm. Some of the victims had themselves 
crucified, in imitation of our Saviour's atonement, 
and, like the Indian devotee, exhibited a wonderful 
disregard of pain. They would hang for three hours, 
while the cross would be shifted from one position to 
another. They were not all sufficiently under the 
control of the delusion to pass through the terrible 
ordeal, but most of them suffered without any com- 
plaint. They pretended to divine illumination. God 



132 Lecture VII. 

directed them in these unnatural exhibitions. Sister 
Frances received orders to burn her clothes off her 
person. The fire was applied accordingly, and the 
poor creature set up such an outcry that water was 
thrown upon her, and so ended the revolting affair. 

The history of the Church, and especially in the 
Middle Ages, is full of the exhibitions of fanaticism in 
its most revolting forms. In Burgundy, for a long 
time, they celebrated the Feast of Asses. They dis- 
covered, by some means or other, that the flight into 
Egypt was upon an ass, and accordingly prepared to 
do the useful brute such honor as his service de- 
manded. So one of them was selected and properly 
trained ; and being covered with cloth of gold, and 
otherwise richly caparisoned, a girl, gaudily dressed, 
mounted him. An immense procession went to a 
Church, where the sober animal took a prominent 
place, and performed an important part in the serv- 
ices. High mass was celebrated, and the ass, who 
was, doubtless, one of the devoutest looking worship- 
ers, behaved with edifying propriety, even kneeling 
at the proper times. A piece of doggerel poetry 
was sung in honor of his donkeyship, of which the 
chorus was " Heigh ho, my assey," and which is too 
ludicrous to repeat here. The officiating priest then 
turned to the people and brayed three times. The 
people brayed three times in response, and so ter- 
minated the scene. 

Such is a very small specimen of the vagaries and 
follies which constitute no small part of the history 
of that Church which proposes to save the world 
from false notions by interposing her infallible stand- 



Errors of the Papacy. 133 

ard of doctrine. You may collect all the extrava- 
gances of so-called Protestants into one exhibition, 
and I pledge myself to outdo your exhibition three to 
one, both in number and extravagance, from the rec- 
ords of the Papacy. 

I have given you a very brief and imperfect exhibit 
of the facts which indicate the infallibility of the Ro- 
man Church. Her Councils contradict each other. 
Her Popes anathematized their predecessors. De- 
pravity reaches its utmost limit in her Popes and 
clergy for many ages, as her own historians show. 
Papal lust has made the word Nepotism. And fa- 
naticism, the most extravagant and mischievous, blots 
her history from one end of it to the other. I leave 
you to say how much respect her claim of infallibility 
deserves in view of all these facts. That Church 
whose Councils have been mobs, and their edicts im- 
posed by Emperors — that Church whose Popes have 
been, not in one or two, but in many instances, by 
the testimony of her own writers, apostates, claims 
our unquestioning submission to herself because she 
is infallible! She kindly proposes enslavement to 
herself as a cure of fanaticism, while she is the very 
example of multifarious and degrading delusions. 
The records of the past must all be blotted before it 
will be possible for us to respect her claim in the 
slightest degree. 

I will next show you, both from reason and Script- 
ure, that the Church of Rome is not, nor can it be, 
infallible. 



134 Lecture VIII. 



LECTURE Vin. 

THE QUESTION OF INFALLIBILITY CONSIDERED IN THE 
LIGHT OF SCRIPTURE AND FACT. 

" Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the com- 
mon salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort 
you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once 
delivered unto the saints." — JUDE 3. 

I AM" still, this evening, to examine the extraordi- 
nary claim of the Roman Church to be the infalli- 
ble and divinely appointed interpreter of Scripture, 
and the fountain of Christian doctrine. A week ago 
I presented a few sections of the history of that 
Church, as bearing upon this claim. I had then 
time for little more than the mere narration oi facts. 
This evening I shall offer you arguments, and, al- 
though I profess to be no adept in logic, I pledge 
myself that if there is a Romanist in the house, who 
will remain until I am done, I will compel him to 
confess, in his secret soul, that the pretentions of his 
Church, in this particular, are false and absurd. A 
sweeping pledge, but I will redeem it. What the re- 
sult may be ultimately, of course, I am not able to 
predict. Prejudice may re-assume its dominion — 
the force of education may afterward displace the 
truth. But the truth, in this case, is so palpable, 
and so accessible, that I promise compulsory convic- 
tion to every man who will hear. Between him and 



Errors of the Papacy. 135 

his God must the final disposition of the matter 
remain. 

The Church of Rome demands of every man the 
surrender of his judgment, conscience, and will, in 
reference to religious matters. No man can be ex- 
pected to make himself over so completely to her 
until she can produce unquestionable testimonials of 
her right in the premises. If, indeed, she has pleni- 
potentiary prerogatives from heaven in all questions 
that involve salvation, she must have credentials that 
bear the sign-manual of God. Nothing less will 
answer. Nor must she complain if we refuse, to take 
her word for it that she has the papers all signed 
and sealed with due formality; we must see them 
ourselves, and examine them with unsparing scrutiny. 
If her demands were more modest, we might be less 
exacting ; but when she commands the surrender of 
the inviolable prerogatives of intelligent being, she 
must accompany the command with demonstration 
of her right to make it. And should her credentials, 
when produced, prove spurious, she must not com- 
plain if her egregious assumptions incur the penalty 
which human nature always inflicts on presuming 
littleness. 

Before the Papacy can obtain this complete posses- 
sion of us, the following several propositions must be 
indubitably established : i. That the Church of Rome 
is a Church of Christ ; 2. That the Church of Rome 
is the only Church of Christ ; 3. That the Church is 
infallible ; 4. That the Church has been divinely ap- 
pointed to the office of interpreting the Scriptures 
and defining Christian doctrine ; 5. That the right 



136 Lecture VIII. 

of interpreting the Scriptures has been reserved ex- 
chisively to her hy divine authority ; and 6. That each 
priest is an infallible interpreter of her dogmas to the 
people. If any single one of these propositions fails, 
the assumptions of the Roman hierarchy are destroyed. 
Each one of them is a stone in the arch on which the 
structure rests, and when one of them is removed, the 
whole edifice will be in ruins. I invite your careful 
attention to these propositions, separately and in their 
relation to each other. Inspect them, and tell me if 
the failure of any one will not ruin the whole system. 
Remember, the claim is that Rome is sole arbiter 
of Christian doctrine. Then Rome must be a true 
Church — the only true Church. The Church must 
be infallible — must be appointed of God to interpret 
Scripture and establish doctrine. The right of inter- 
pretation must be reserved, by divine authority, to 
her alo7ie, and each priest must be an infallible ex- 
ponent of her interpretations and dogmas to the peo- 
ple. If I shall show these propositions, or but one of 
them, to be false, the inflated theory will be exhibited, 
" baseless as the airy fabric of a vision." 

I shall not undertake now to ascertain whether the 
Church of Rome is a Church of Christ at all, or not. 
I reserve this inquiry for future discussion. It is 
sufficient for my present argument to say, that before 
her claim to be a Church can be granted, it must be 
shown that she has the Scriptural marks of a Churcli. 
Appeal must be made to some admitted authority. 
The authority admitted by all parties is the Bible. 
Her own averment, while she is on trial, is worthless. 
There is no competent witness but the Bible. The 



Errors of the Papacy. 137 

constituent elements of the Church once found, the 
character of this particular Church must be exam- 
ined ; and if all the elements are present, and no ad- 
ditional neutralizing elements can be found, then she 
is a Church of Christ. Here is a work for private 
judgment, that no pretension and no logic can escape. 
And when this Church claims to have been always 
the true Church, and rests her pretensions on that 
fact, her entire history must be examined before a 
conclusion can be arrived at ; and, I venture to say, 
a man had better go to the Bible at once to learn 
truth than to undertake all this labor to establish the 
claims of an interpreter that he may rely on. 

And before he can say that this is the only true 
Church, he must examine the characteristics of every 
other Church in existence, and find them wanting. 
It will not do to pass them over lightly. The work 
must be thorough. The immense numbers that are 
found in other Churches, sincerely serving God, may 
be recognized by him as within the divine enclosure. 
The great Greek Church, venerable for years, with 
its many millions of communicants ; the Church of 
England, with its noble ritual and illustrious names ; 
and all the ancient and modern organizations, includ- 
ing the Methodists, whose works are so abundant, 
and fraught with so much good to our race, are wor- 
thy, at least, of being put to the test before they are 
consigned to the executioner. It may turn out that 
if the Church, in its entireness, is infallible, many 
suffrages must yet be added before the mind of the 
whole body is known. If " by their fruits ye shall 
know them," certainly a thousand other organizations 



138 Lecture VIII. 

enjoy a better title than Rome. To sin against char- 
ity is a grievous offense against Jesus, who was the 
great Exemplar of this virtue. What a lesson he 
taught mankind, when some of his disciples came to 
him and reported that they had seen one casting out 
devils in his name, and had forbidden him, because, 
said they, " he followetk not us !'' How promptly did 
he check and reprove their intemperate and unchar- 
itable zeal ! He told them " a man had better be 
cast into the sea, with a millstone about his neck, 
than to offend even one of the little ones that believe 
in him.'' (Mark ix, 38, 42.) 

The Papists base their claim of exclusiveness on 
false ground. Peter, they tell us, was the chief of the 
Apostles, the head of the Church ; his See was in 
Rome, the Popes are his successors, and are, there- 
fore, the head of the Church ; and it follows that 
none are in the Church except those who recognize 
his authority. That this is false ground will appear, 
first, from the fact that it is opposed to the Scriptural 
basis of the Church ; and, secondly, that the facts 
which it assumes are without proof. In fact, the evi- 
dence in the case is conclusive against them. I have 
not time now to discuss this point, but next Sunday 
evening I will dispose of the alleged Primacy of Peter 
and the Succession of the Popes, and show you how 
utterly without foundation the whole theory is. 

At present I will examine the claim of infallibility, 
first, in its general bearings, and, secondly, as it re- 
lates to the Church of Rome in particular. That the 
true Church of Christ has the true doctrine, and must 
always have it, no one denies ; for when any Church 



Errors of the Papacy. 139 

becomes essentially heretical, it ceases to be a Church. 
And, as I hope to show you more at large hereafter? 
the true Catholic Church is constituted of all those 
Christian organizations, throughout the world and in 
all time, which hold the true doctrine and worship, 
have the true Christian spirit, and bring forth the 
fruits of the Spirit. No traditional character can 
compensate the loss of these. No succession of ec- 
clesiastical persons can be accepted as a voucher of 
Divine indorsement against the evidence of apostate 
works. Mark that. I will recur to it at a future 
time. 

But with all their shyness of Scripture, Papal writ- 
ers are driven to an effort in support of their assump- 
tions from that authority. They cannot get rid of 
the conviction, which seems to haunt them like a 
spectre, that they must get the Bible to speak in 
their favour, or they are ruined. I will examine the 
passages on which they rely chiefly to prove that the 
Church of Christ is infallible. In Matthew xxviii, 20, 
our Lord said to his disciples : " I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the world." The first thing that 
will strike a man of common sense is, that the point 
to be proved is not in the words at all. A promise 
to be with the Church is not a promise to make the 
Church infallible. In Matthew xviii, 20, Jesus says : 
" Where two or three are gathered together in my 
name, there am I in the midst of them.^' Now, if 
the presence of Christ insures infallibility, then two 
or three persons collected in his name, whether in the 
Church or not, are infallible. The truth is, those who 
associate themselves in his name, he will meet to con- 



140 Lecture VIII. 

sole and bless. Inspiration or infallibility is quite 
another thing. But let us look at this text in the 
light of the context. Every man at all given to read- 
ing knows how essential to the meaning of a given 
sentence is the hearing of the associated passages. 
This is true of every species of writing, and as much 
so of the Scriptures as any other. By going back to 
verse i6, and reading the whole context, you will see 
that the meeting of Christ with the eleven Disciples, 
in Galilee, after his resurrection, was the occasion of 
this language : " All power," said he to them, " is 
given unto me in heaven and in earth ! " What a sub- 
lime statement ! And yet it is but the introduction 
of what is about to follow. And what is that stu- 
pendous subject for which they are prepared by such 
an introduction } Nothing less than a cominissiojt to 
them to evangelize the world ! Eleven men, without 
prestige, without resources, ignorant, despised ; eleven 
such fnen, under stich circumstances y on a mountain of 
Galilee, received orders to make a conquest of the 
WORLD ! The very thought would have stupefied 
them, but that every question was provided against. 
He who se7it them upon this great errand had all 
power in heaven and on earth ; and, more and better, 
the commission he gave was followed by the assur- 
ance that he would be with them always. What sig- 
nified their incompetency t HE would be with them, 
and nothing could be easier than for him to confound 
the mighty by the weak, or even to bring to nought 
things that are by things that are not. But mark 
well ; his presence depended on facts there specified 
as conditions, one of which was that they should 



Errors of the Papacy. 141 

teach the things he had commanded. When min- 
isters begin to teach " for doctrines, the command' 
inents of me^tl' that all-powerful presence is with- 
drawn. It can never accompany the Gospel of the 
Mass, and oi priestly absolution, nor any other that 
contravenes the Gospel of Calvary and of Divine for- 
giveness, though, as the apostle says, " an angel from 
heaven " should preach it. According to this cele- 
brated passage, then, when a Church claims to have 
the presence of Christ, you must try the claim by the 
teaching of Christ. Where the latter is wanting the 
former is absent. Our Lord never promised to be 
with those who might maintain an organized exist- 
ence from apostolic times, but he did promise to be 
with those who should teach what he had commanded. 
But we are told that Jesus commxanded men to hear 
the Church, on pain of being held as heathen ; and 
that, in connection with this, he promised the Church, 
" Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound 
in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth 
shall be loosed in heaven." (See Matt, xviii, 15, 18.) 
This is another instance of the havoc which Papal 
hermeneutics makes of the Word of God. The Sav- 
iour is here speaking of a case of local discipline : " If 
thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his 
fault, between thee and him alone ; if he shall hear 
thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will 
not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, 
that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every 
word may be established. And if he shall neglect to 
hear them, tell it unto the Church ; but if he neglect 
to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen 



142 Lecture VIII. 

man and a publican. Verily, I say unto you, what- 
soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in 
heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall 
be loosed in heaven." The case is a plain one. One 
brother does another wrong, and to the sin against 
justice adds one against charity, by refusing to hear 
the aggrieved party alone, and again in the presence 
of others, and at last refuses to hear the Church. 
The action of a local Church in cutting off such an 
outrageous offender is indorsed in heaven. And this 
authority of a local Church in the administration of 
discipline is construed into a promise of infallibility. 
When the lust of power takes possession of men, 
upon what slender pretexts will they undertake to 
justify their claim ! We are reminded that the 
Church is "the pillar and ground of the truth." 
(i Tim. iii, 15.) Aye, so it is. The tnie Church that 
teaches the doctrine of Christ, and not the traditions 
of men, does, indeed, defend and maintain the truth 
with a will and a power that is invincible. Such a 
Church holds " the faith that was once delivered to the 
saints'' as a precious deposit for which her members 
will " earnestly contend " and willingly die. They have 
died for it, thousands, perhaps millions of them, under 
the baleful power of the Roman hierarchy, and if need 
be, they will do it again. But the Church is not the 
pillar and ground of human tradition. The organiza- 
tion that undertakes to support that becomes some- 
thing else besides the Church of the Living God. 
Rome has menaced us many a time with this pas- 
sage : " He that heareth you heareth me ; and he 
that despiseth you despiseth me ; and he that de- 



Errors of the Papacy. 143 

spiseth me despiseth him that sent me." (Luke 
X, 16.) She would make us beheve that in disre- 
garding her we offer contempt to God. What are 
the facts in the case ? Our Lord, during his minis- 
try, selected seventy men whom he sent " before his 
face two and two, into every city and place whither 
he himself would come." They were to announce 
the near approach of the Kingdom of Heaven, and 
miracles which they should perform were to serve 
as the authentication of their announcement. With 
credentials in this Divine handwriting, to despise 
them was to despise Christ and God. Now, when 
any man shall come to us healing the sick and cast- 
ing out devils, we will begin to consider his claims 
to the appropriation of this Scripture seriously. We 
have an inspired test of the spirit of truth and that 
of error in i John iv, 6 : " We are of God. He that 
knoweth God heareth us ; he that is not of God 
heareth not us. Hereby we know the spirit of truth 
and the spirit of error." They that " continue stead- 
fastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship " (Acts 
ii, 42) are of the truth, and we know them to be so 
by that test. You see how utterly these texts, main- 
ly relied on by our Romanist friends to prove infal- 
lible authority for the Church, fail them. They show 
the divine authority of certain special messengers of 
Christ, or that he will be with those who teach his 
commandments, or that the Apostolic doctrine is the 
infallible test of truth. But they contain no assur- 
ance that any particular organization should be di- 
vinely guarded against falling into error. Now let 
us look into the claims of the Church of Rome more 



144 Lecture VIII. 

particularly, and see by what right she claims infalli- 
bility. Waiving, for the present, her theory of a 
continuous existence since the times of the Apostles, 
and a succession unbroken in the See of Rome, I ask 
your attention to the bearing of morals in the Church, 
on the question of infallibility. 

Now I assert, on the authority of Christ, that great 
dereliction of piety in a Church incurs the loss of 
divine recognition. In other words, when a Church 
loses the characteristics of genuine piety, she ceases 
to be a Church of Christ. In the visions of John, 
on the Isle of Patmos, he saw among other things 
seven candlesticks. (Rev. i, 20.) He was informed 
that the seven candlesticks were the seven Churches 
to which he had been commanded to write. In our 
Saviour's message to the Church at Ephesus, one of 
the seven, he commends it highly for many things, 
and alleges but a single complaint : " Thou hast left 
thy first love." " Remember, therefore, from whence 
thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works ; 
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove 
thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." 
(Rev. ii, 5.) The ca?idlestick was the Church ; that 
removed, it was no longer a true Church. To the 
Church at Laodicea He says: (Rev. iii, 16:) "So 
tlien, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor 
hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." Loss of 
piety, then, is attended by divine rejection of the 
Church, so that if any Church were infallible, an un- 
godly one cannot be. 

I gave you, a week ago, some historical specimens 
of the Roman ecclesiastics of the Middle Ages. I 



Errors of the Papacy. 145 

will now treat you to a view of the Church at large, 
in those times, upon the testimony of Papal wit- 
nesses. 

"The Church is come to such a state that it is 
worthy of being governed only by reprobates." (Al- 
liaco.) Petrarch called Rome " Babylon, the Great 
Whore, the school of error, and the temple of heresy." 
He also raises an outcry against the " dereliction of 
all piety, charity, faith, shame, sanctity, integrity, 
justice, honesty, candor, humanity, and fear of God." 
Mariana says : " Shame and modesty were banished, 
while, by a monstrous irregularity, the most dreadful 
outrages, perfidy, and treason were better recom- 
pensed than the highest virtue. The wickedness of 
the Pontiff descended to the people." 

What a delineation ! The head of the Church was 
an overflowing fountain of crime to the whole land. 

Egidius : " Licentiousness reigned. All kinds of 
atrocity, like an impetuous torrent, inundated the 
Church, and like a pestilence infected nearly all its 
members. . . . The plains of Italy were drenched in 
blood and strewed with the dead. Violence, rapine, 
adultery, incest, and all the pestilence of villainy, 
confounded all things sacred and profane." Miran- 
dula : " All ranks sinned with open effrontery. Vir- 
tue was often accounted vice, and vice honored for 
virtue. The sacred temples were governed by pimps 
and Ganymedes, stained with the sin of Sodom. Par- 
ents encouraged their sons in the vile pollution. 
The retreats formerly sacred to unspotted virgins 
were converted into brothels, and the haunts of ob- 
scenity and abomination. Money intended for sacred 



146 Lecture VIII. 

purposes was lavished on the filthiest pleasures, while 
the perpetrators of the defilement, instead of being 
ashamed, gloried in the profanation." Antonius, in 
an address at Trent, said : " Each succeeding day 
witnessed a deterioration in devotion, divine grace. 
Christian virtue, and other spiritual attainments. No 
age had ever seen more tribunals and less justice ; 
more Senators, and less care of the Commonwealth ; 
more indigence and less charity ; or greater riches 
and fewer alms. This neglect of justice and alms 
was attended with public adultery, rape, rapine, ex- 
action, taxation, oppression, drunkenness, gluttony, 
pomp of dress, superfluity of expense, contamination 
of luxury, and effusion of Christian blood. Women 
displayed lasciviousness and effrontery ; youth, dis- 
order and insubordination ; . and age, impiety and 
folly ; while never had there, in all ranks, appeared 
less honor, virtue, modesty, and fear of God, or more 
lasciviousness, abuse, and exorbitance of sensuality. 
The pastor was without vigilance, the preacher with- 
out works, the law without subjection, the people 
without obedience, the monk without devotion, the 
rich without humility, the female without compas- 
sion, the young without discipline, and every Chris- 
tian without religion. The wicked were exalted and 
the good depressed. Virtue was despised, and vice, 
in its stead, reigned in the world. Usury, fraud, 
adultery, fornication, enmity, revenge, and blasphemy 
enjoyed distinction, while worldly and perverse men, 
being encouraged and congratulated in their wicked- 
ness, boasted of their villainy." 

These pictures are terribly revolting, but no man 



Errors of the PArAcv. 147 

of learning and veracity will deny their fidelity. And 
I am willing to meet any man in St. Louis, or any- 
where else, to try the Church of Rome by her history. 
What I have said I am wilHng to meet before any 
tribunal, human or divine. And you will observe 
that I have not given you garbled quotations from 
the theoretical writings of a single faction, Domin- 
ican, or Franciscan, or Jesuit, and infejTed therefrom 
a bad moral tendency in the whole Church. I have 
given facts. 

There is a consciousness of moral congruity in the 
mind that instinctively rejects the idea that a Church 
so fallen was the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. 
Is this the Church in which that glorious declaration 
was fulfilled : " The glory which thou gavest me I 
have given them ; that they may be one as we also 
are one : I in them, and thou in me, that they may be 
made perfect in one ; and the world may know that 
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast 
loved me ? " Or that other, " And I have made 
known thy name to them, and will make it known : 
that the love wherewith thou hast laired me, may be in 
them.y and I ill them?'' Is this the holy nation, the 
peculiar people, who were to show forth the praise of 
Him who had called them out of darkness into his 
marvelous light ? (i Peter ii, 9.) There may be here 
and there a Judas in the true Church — there maybe 
spots in the feasts of charity ; but when the defection 
is so wide-spread and public, entering into the life of 
the organization, controlling its administration, and 
characterizing it in its wholeness, we may be sure 

the candlestick is removed. There may be an occa- 
10 



14^ Lecture VIII. 

sional fault in an Apostle, but when he becomes 
habitually vicious, he is fallen like Judas, and is an 
Apostle no more. When Peter's Chair, so called, 
was at the disposal of bad women, the Church of 
which its occupant was the head, was not the true 
Church of Christ — // was not infallible. 

But even if the Church were infallible, it must still 
be shown that God has reserved to her exclusively 
the right of interpretation. Proof must be given 
that the privilege of going to the Bible for the pur- 
pose of ascertaining truth was denied to the people. 
On the contrary, the Bereans are commended and 
called noble because they tested the truth of Paul's 
preaching by Scripture. (Acts xvii, ii.) There is 
not one word of caution to the common people 
against reading or interpreting Scripture for them- 
selves. Wherever the subject is referred to, they 
are encouraged to read and search the records. Sev- 
eral portions of the New Testament are directed in 
so many words to the Church at large. If the Bible 
were intended for ecclesiastical interpretation, cer- 
tainly that fact would have been stated. 

The decrees and canons of Councils, and the bulls 
of Popes, sometimes require interpreting. The Coun- 
cil of Chalcedon, for instance, was understood by the 
Spaniards to teach that there are three substances in 
the person of Christ. Others understood it to teach 
but two. The decrees of the Council of Trent on 
original sin, grace, and justification, were interpreted 
by the Dominicans and Franciscans differently, ac- 
cording to their respective theories on those subjects. 
The Church must have infallible priests to interpret 



Errors of the Papacy. 149 

her dogmas to the people before she can secure them 
against error. The bull, Unigenitus, of Clement the 
Eleventh, was much disputed about. Some thought 
it meant one thing, and some another. The faithful 
needed much an infallible priesthood to tell them 
what its object was. 

The Popes are in the habit of issuing bulls. The 
party who hold him infallible will, of course, submit, 
as in duty bound. But how about those who deny 
that he is the depositary of infallibility t They 
might fairly resist a Pope who should command what 
seemed wrong to them, or, if they did not, they 
might be led into fatal error. If it should turn out 
that he is infallible, those who resist him would be 
in a sad predicament ; if otherwise, those who sub- 
mit to him might be led astray. 

The subjection of the people to ecclesiastical rule, 
under the notion that the Church is infallible, is un- 
friendly to the development of a just manliness of 
character. And as I am not addicted to mere theo- 
rizing, I ask your attention to facts. What nations 
are they which have gone forward in civilization 
within the last three hundred years } Where have 
commerce and enterprise achieved their triumphs t 
Where has constitutional liberty established itself.-* 
With these questions in your mind, compare Spain 
with England, Italy with Prussia, Austria with Scot- 
land, Mexico with the United States. In fact, the 
greater or less ascendency of the Papacy, in any 
country, may be determined by the condition of the 
people. I mean, of course, within the limits of 
Christendom. The Church of Rome is, in her tradi- 



ISO Lecture VIII. 

tional character, and in her essential spirit, inimical 
to freedom, and especially to republicanism. Her 
tendencies are monarchial, not to say despotic. In 
her claim of infallible authority over the mind and 
conscience, she is herself despotic. Accustomed to 
unbridled control in religious matters, she has al- 
ways sought alliance with the civil authority, that 
she might thereby secure power to enforce her de- 
mands upon the refractory. Despotisms are most 
congenial with her for this reason : they usually 
serve her better. Republics prosper poorly on Papal 
soil : witness the French and Mexican abortions. 
The servile spirit engendered by the habit of un- 
questioning submission to ecclesiastical authority ac- 
counts, at least in part, for this. 

This sinister leaven is working in our own coun- 
try. Within the last week it has shown itself in St. 
Louis. 

There are in Europe a monarchy and a monarch 
about equally in their dotage. The monarchy is that 
of the Papal States, and the monarch is Pius the 
Ninth, the reigning Pontiff, who, in addition to his 
spiritual supremacy over the Papal Church, is an 
Italian sovereign. His dominions are, not without 
reason, supposed to be in danger. Our fellow-citi- 
zens of the Roman communion met in the Mercan- 
tile Library Hall, the other evening, to express their 
sympathy with him. I have here the Missouri Re- 
publican, of the 13th inst., which contains the pro- 
ceedings of the meeting. From certain remarks on 
the occasion, it seems that money as well as sympa- 
thy is needed at Rome, and citizens of Republican 



Errors of the Papacy. 151 

America are expected to tax themselves voluntarily 
to swell the revenues of a European monarch. And 
the friends of Italian liberty were abused. Shall it 
be told in Europe that the champions of constitu- 
tional liberty in Italy were publicly traduced in an 
American city ? I was born in Missouri, and have 
ever been proud of my native State. I hope to re- 
main so. But, I tell you this night, I feel disgraced 
as a Missourian. Two thousand citizens of this 
young metropolis of our commerce, in mass meeting, 
have pubhshed to the world their sympathy with the 
cause of a sovereign who has been unable to keep 
his place upon his throne, among his own people, ex- 
cept as he was propped in his seat by foreign bayo- 
nets — a sovereign whose reign was opened by prom- 
ises of reform, which he was either too weak or too 
wicked to redeem, and, in either case, unworthy to 
govern men. They adopt an address, to be commu- 
nicated to the sovereign Pontiff. Shall I read you a 
specimen or two from it .-* " To His Holijiess Pope 
Pius IX — Most Holy Father : The Catholics of 
St. Louis, comprising different national origins, unite 
to offer to you, the Vicar of Christ, their homage and 
reverence." Pius the Ninth, the Most Holy Fa- 
ther! He the object of homage and reverence! 
** They are impelled to this special act of devotion 
because, while it permits them to testify their affec- 
tion for your sacred office and person," (the sacred 
person of Pius the Ninth !) " it affords them an op- 
portunity of expressing their deep concern for the 
present afflictions of your Holiness, as guardian of 
the patrimony of St. Peter." Poor Peter had no pat- 



152 Lecture VIII. 

rimony but a fisherman's net, and when the Lord 
called him he forsook that. Now, here is quite a 
httle kingdom in Italy that they call Peter's patri- 
mony. And it seems that Peter's guardian has not 
the capacity to take care of his estate for him, on ac- 
count of which our fellow-citizens are greatly con- 
cerned. I wonder how the old fisherman feels about 
it in heaven. They tell us these territories were 
donated to the successors of Peter by grateful kings. 
Yes, Pepin dared not venture upon the usurpation 
of the throne of France until he was sure of the 
Popes endorsement. This the pliant Vicar of Christ 
gave, and the gratcfnl usniper rewarded the complicity 
of his Holijiess with the possession of territories which 
were enlarged by his equally grateful son. It was 
the traitor's reward to his accomplice. 

But I must call your attention to one of the reso- 
lutions of this meeting : 

" Resolved, That, as American citizens, we recognize the im- 
perious necessity for preserving- the Pope as a temporal sover- 
eign, free from the undue influence of other powers, so long as 
he is regarded as the spiritual head of five millions of our fel- 
low-citizens." 

Other powers, it is understood, are talking of cut- 
ting down the Pope's temporal sovereignty, until it 
shall be a mere name. Napoleon, it is supposed, is 
looking to this result. Now, in the light of this fact, 
analyze the resolution. // endorses the union of the 
ecclesiastical and civil fwictions — it pledges American 
citizens, as such, to this endorsement, and it affirms 
the imperions necessity of preserving the Pope's tem- 
poral sovereignty in its present peril, on the ground 



Errors of the Papacy. 153 

of his spiritual connection \^\!Ci\ five millions of Ameri- 
can citizens. 

Our ancestors guarded against nothing with more 
scrupulous care than against the "union of Church 
and State." They knew of the blood that had flowed 
down the mountain-sides and crimsoned the plains 
of Europe as the result of this unnatural alliance. 
They knew that it was the hot-bed of corruption and 
tyranny. It was this hybrid monster that shed all 
the martyr-blood that stained the virgin soil of our 
continent in the time of our colonial existence. 
Their doctrine was, " Let the Church be free, let her 
enjoy untrammeled control of spiritual affairs, but let 
her not seek to intermeddle in the civil administra- 
tion." The reason is plain : ecclesiastics are but 
men. Ecclesiastical affairs are sufficient for one 
class of men. And more : men, mere men, holding 
civil power in one hand, and spiritual power in the 
other, might be tempted to avenge the grievances of 
the latter by the penalties of the former. History is 
full of instances. Here is persecution. Here is the 
most intolerable despotism. And now, here, in St. 
Louis, two thousand of our fellow-citizens pledge 
themselves publicly to this most hateful and destruc- 
tive despotism ! How many of them were sons of 
Revolutionary sires I do not know. 

So long as the Pope is recognized as the spiritual 
head of so many of our fellow-citize7ts there is impe- 
rious necessity that he should be preserved in due 
dignity as an independent temporal sovereign ! The 
imperious necessity is recognized by them as Ameri- 
can citizens ! I venture to say that American citi- 



154 Lecture VIII. 

zenship was never so profaned before ! The doc- 
trine of infallible spiritual sovereignty is working its 
result. And such things are publicly uttered here 
in our midst ! They are put into resolutions, and 
pubhshed in the newspapers. Thanks to our repub- 
lican freedom, even the friends of monarchy have a 
right to be heard here, and sentiments the most in- 
imical to our history and our institutions may be 
freely uttered. / am glad of it. If such are enter- 
tained, let us know it. If there are two thousand 
necks in St. Louis crouching, ready for the despot's 
foot, let the fact be bruited abroad. And if the man 
who is " every inch " a Pope must be an independent 
sovereign because he is the spintual head of some 
millions of American citizens, how long do you sup- 
pose it will be until those who are *' every inch " 
bishops and archbishops will find it necessary to 
support their spiritual dignities by civil place and 
power } This state of things will, doubtless, exist at 
that distant day foreseen by the prophet in the Shep- 
herd of the Valley, when the immense numerical supe- 
riority shall support the pretentions of a Church 
which has always been feeling after the reins of 
temporal authority. If that day ever comes — which 
heaven forbid ! — then our beautiful plains, like France 
and Mexico, will support a population incapable of 
self-government, and be ripe for despotism. Then, 
God of Nations ! pity that minority in whose breasts 
the sentiment of freedom shall find its last asylum. 

I know that there are thousands of my fellow-citi- 
zens in the Church of Rome who have no sympathy 
with these disastrous sentiments. Their poHtical 



Errors of the Papacy. 155 

views have been derived from quite another source 
than Rome. And yet they may fee], in spite of them- 
selves, a sympathy with their spiritual head, that will 
make war upon their well-established political creed. 
Suffer my friendly warning. There are insidious in- 
fluences at work around you, and, though you have 
not suspected it, they are inherent in the very nature 
of your Church, which may unconsciously steal upon 
your children, if not upon yourselves, until the sturdy 
sentiments of the Republican will wilt, and the only 
safeguard of your liberties be removed. " Think upon 
these things." 

In addition to these vicious results of the doctrine 
of infaUibility, the Roman Church, by her own theory, 
can assure no man of his salvation ; and in spite of 
her, upon her own showing, her best members may 
be damned. By a canon of the Council of Trent, all 
who deny that at least some of the sacraments are es- 
sential to salvation are anathematized. These canons 
of the Church are formidable weapons. They were 
manufactured, I believe, for the extermination of 
heresy, and every time one goes off it discharges a 
curse — a terrible curse. I expect to deliver a lecture 
upon the Council of Trent, when I shall pay my re- 
spects more especially to the canons. The same au- 
thority that constituted the sacraments necessary to 
salvation ordained also that ordination of ministers 
is a sacrament, and that the minister must intend to 
do what the words express in the administration of 
the sacrament, or it is no sacrament. The Church, 
also, allows that her ministers may fall into mortal 
sin, and in that state administer the sacrament. Now, 



156 Lecture VIII. 

what if your priest should prove to be no priest, from 
want of intention in his ordination ? No 'inan can 
know that he is a priest, upon this theory. Some 
sHp in the intention may have interrupted the suc- 
cession at a point from which it may have extended 
to the whole priesthood. Or even if your priest was 
canonically ordained, he may have been a bad man, 
and when you received baptism, and the Eucharist, 
and penance, the effect may have failed for want of 
intention. In your final peril, extreme unction may 
fail. With all her boasted infallibility, however sin- 
cere you may be, your Church, by her own creed, 
can not give you assurance of the safety of your soul. 
Is it not a ver}'' poor infallibility that leaves you in 
such a case } 

Indulge in a brief resume of the argument up to 
this point. First, the Scriptures, in proof of infalli- 
bility have been examined, and the fact clearly ascer- 
tained that they have no bearing upon that subject. 
Secondly, there is no single hint in all the Bible of 
any restraint upon the people in reading the Script- 
ures, but, on the contrary, the testing of even Apos- 
tolic preaching by Scripture is commended. Third- 
ly, I have shown the demoralization of the Roman 
Church at certain periods to be so entire, that no one 
can for a moment suppose her to be God's unerring 
Church. Fourthly, the variant theories of infallibil- 
ity destroy it, or render it valueless, by creating un- 
certainty as to which of its utterances are to be de- 
pended on. Fifthly, there have been contradictory 
coctrines taught at different periods by " the Church." 
Sixthly, some of her dogmas flatly contradict the 



Errors of the Papacy. 157 

Holy Scriptures. Seventhly, she argues in a circle, 
supporting her claims by the Scriptures, and proving 
the Scriptures by herself. Eighthly, her claim itself 
involves the right of private judgment, for she must 
appeal to this to establish her pretentions. Ninthly, 
the control she assumes over the souls of men tends 
to debase them and repress development, and is un- 
friendly to republican institutions. Witness the con- 
dition of Papal nations and the Library Hall meeting. 
Tenthly, the doctrine of intention cuts oft' every indi- 
vidual of ** the faithful " from assurance of salvation. 
I have encountered several Churches, in the course 
of my life, which claimed to be, each one, the only 
true Church of God. And my observation is that 
the less a Church deserves the title, the more lustily 
it will contend for it. Assumption and exclusiveness 
are in inverse proportion to merit. My friends, God 
Jias a true Church. Where you find the true doc- 
trine, Scriptural worship, the sacraments duly admin- 
istered, the genuine spirit of godliness producing the 
fruits of godly living, without the corrupting addition 
of human tradition — in a word, where you find a 
Church continuing " in the Apostles' doctrine and 
fellowship," you may know you have found a Church 
of the Most High, and need not hesitate to make it 
your spiritual home. Not amid splendid and pomp- 
ous rituals, but in the simplicity of good doctrine and 
unaffected worship, God loves to dwell. " He inhab- 
iteth the praises of Israel." You need pay no atten- 
tion to those who pretend to a monopoly of salva- 
tion, as if the grace of God could be kept under lock 
and key, and celestial charities doled out by human 



158 Lecture VIII. 

almoners. Know that every man shall give account 
of himself to God. Worship God and be humble 
before him, and call hhn alone " Most Holy ! " Ren- 
der due respect to those who represent legitimate 
official authority, but be self-respectful before all 
men. Repent of your sins, believe in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, do his commandments, observe his ordi- 
nances, and trust your souls in his hands in humble 
prayer. Thus living, you " shall have right to the 
tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the 
city." 

Next Sunday evening I will call your attention to 
the assumed Primacy of Peter, and the pretended 
succession and supremacy of the Pope of Rome. 



Errors of the Papacy. 159 



LECTURE IX. 

THE QUESTION OF THE PRIMACY OF PETER AND 
THE SUCCESSORSHIP OF THE POPES EXAMINED. 

" For their rock is not as our Rock ; even our enemies themselves 
being judges." — Deut. xxxiii, 31. 

THAT the apostle Peter was invested with su- 
premacy in the Church of Christ, and that that 
supremacy has descended from him to the Popes of 
Rome, are hypotheses essential to the Roman 
theory of infallibility. 

To establish this theory of the Pope's supremacy, 
the following propositions must all be proven : 
I. That our Lord created any such supreme office 
in the Church. 2. That Peter was the incumbent 
of the office. 3. That he established himself in 
Rome. 4. That he had successors in that office. 
5. That the Popes are those successors. The failure 
of a single one of these five propositions ruins the 
Popes, and, they being the head of their Church, it 
is ruined with them. Look at these propositions 
consecutively, and tell me if they be not all essen- 
tial to the support of the Papacy ? Yes. You can't 
deny it. No man can deny it. Now, I am going 
to show you that not one of them is true. Not one. 
They are all mere assumptions in the face of Script- 
ure and history. 

L Did Christ institute the office of Supreme Pon- 
tiff in the Church? Where is the law? Please to 



i6o Lecture IX. 

show us the instituting statute. My friends, ex- 
amine the New Testament Code from one end to 
the other, and you will find no such enactment, 
either in direct terms or by implication. Now, here 
is an office which, they tell us, is essential to the 
very existence of the Church, and yet the law cre- 
ates no such office by any statute on record. 
Strange ! An office conferring on its incumbent 
such absolute ascendency over his fellow-creatures 
ought certainly to enjoy the sanction of express 
law. Is it a mortal sin in me to ask the friends of 
the Papacy for such a law, that I may see it before 
I consent to any one man's dominion over my soul ? 
I can't take involved and long-drawn inferences in 
such a case. Where rights and interests essential as 
my being are involved, I demand specific, indubit- 
able testimony. 

II. But you tell me the office was instituted, and 
the incumbent invested with it, simultaneously. 
You admit there is no statute creating the office, 
but affirm that Peter was appointed to this high dig- 
nity, and that the terms of his appointment are equiv- 
alent to statutory enactment. Well, let us examine 
this matter. Don't get out of humor with us if 
we insist on examining it closely. If God has sub- 
jected us to the Pope, we are willing to submit. 
But we must hiow that fact first. We will probe 
this subject to the bottom, and then, if we find the 
evidence of his supremacy, we will take the oath of 
allegiance. 

The appointment of Peter to supreme dignity and 
power in the Church, is to be found, we are told, in 
Matthew xvi, 13-19. I will give you the passage 



Errors of the Papacy. i6i 

entire : " When Jesus came into the coasts of Cesa- 
rea Phillipi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do 
men say that I, the Son of man, am ? And they 
said : Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some 
Elias, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. 
He saith unto them. But whom say ye that I am? 
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus an- 
swered and said unto him. Blessed art thou Simon 
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it 
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I 
say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock 
I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall 
not prevail against it. And 1 will give unto thee 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatso- 
ever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in 
heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth 
shall be loosed in heaven." 

They tell us that the word Peter, in the original, 
means stone, or rock, and that our Saviour told 
Peter that on him as on a rock he would build his 
Church, and the gates of hell should not prevail 
against it. The infallibility of the Roman Church 
is committed to this exegesis, and stands or falls w^ith 
it. This interpretation of this one Scripture is, in- 
deed, the rock on which tliat Church is built. I pro- 
pose to try its solidity, this evening, by a few blows 
of the hammer of criticism and common sense. You 
shall see how this Roman rock will be shivered, and 
the rock Christ Jesus, the Rock of Ages, remain ! 
Be patient, and give me your undivided attention. 

Let me remark, then, to begin, that it is a univers- 
al and supreme canon of interpretation, that any 



i62 Lecture IX. 

given passage in any writing is to be understood in 
harmony with the whole. No one place is to be so 
construed as to clash with the uniform sense of all 
other places on the same subject. Not having '' the 
fear of this canon before their eyes," reckless and 
designing men may make any thing out of the Bible, 
or any other book. I venture to say that the dis- 
regard of this has produced nearly, or quite, all the 
false theories of Christianity that have cursed the 
world. And, as I shall show you, the supremacy of 
this law has been utterly set at naught to establish the 
supremacy of the Pope. What was the rock on which 
Christ said he would build his Church f Let us exam- 
ine the parallel passages, and see what they depose. 
As far back as Gen. xlix, 24, we are told that 
from God '' is the Shepherd, the stone, of Israel." 
We know that Jesus is " the good shepherd ; " what 
the stone is we shall presently see. Turn to Psalm 
cxviii, 22, 23, '' The stone which the builders re- 
fused is become the head stone of the corner. This 
is the Lord's doing ; it is marvelous in our eyes." 
Now, look at Matt, xxi, 33-42. Jesus shows the 
Jews here, by the parable of the vineyard, how they 
had rejected God's servants, the prophets, one after 
another, and that now God had sent his Son, and 
they were about to reject him. ^' Did ye never 
read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders 
rejected, the same is become the head of the corner ; 
this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our 
eyes ? " You will observe the aspect in which the 
stone is here introduced. It was designed for a 
building, and became the chief corner stone of the 
foundation. And Christ appropriates this prophecy 



Errors of the Papacy. 163 

to himself. ^' The builders," the Jews, were about 
to reject him, but God had made him the " head of 
the corner." If you will take the pains to examine 
Mark xii, 10, ii, and Luke xx, 9-18 (and I ask you 
to do so,) you will discover that the same quotation 
of the Scripture by our Lord, and the application of 
it to himself, is given by those two Evangelists. 
The same application of it is made by Peter, in 
Acts iv, 10, II. Peter and John were called to ac- 
count by the High Priest, and other dignitaries, for 
the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate, 
as they were entering the Temple. " Be it known 
unto you all," said the intrepid apostle, *' and to all 
the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus 
Christ of Nazareth, whom j/e crucified, whom God 
raised from the dead, even by him doth this man 
stand here before you whole. This is the stone 
which is set at naught of you builders, which is be- 
come the head of the corner." T/iey crucified, and 
thus rejected him ; God raised him up, and thus made 
him '* the head stone of the corner^ Here, then, 
is God's corner stone, introduced by the Psalmist, 
and identified with Christ by himself and by Peter. 
Now, let us go back to the Old Testament and 
hear the prince of prophets. '' Therefore, thus saith 
the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation 
a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure 
foundation : he that believeth shall not make haste." 
Isaiah xxviii, 16: ''This stone is 2. foundation laid 
in Zion " — the foundation of God's Church, which he 
himself laid. See, also, Isaiah viii, 13, 14: "Sanc- 
tify the Lord of Hosts himself; and let him be your 

fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be 
11 



164 Lecture IX. 

for a sanctuary ; but for a stone of stumbling, and 
for a rock of offense, to both the houses of Israel." 
"The Lord of Hosts himself" is this rock. The 
apostle incorporates portions of these two passages 
from Isaiah into a single quotation, and applies them 
to Christ. Rom. ix, 33 : '' As it is written, Behold, I 
lay in Zion a stumbling stone, and a rock of offense : 
and whosoever believeth on him shall not be 
ashamed." Peter, also, applies these two Scriptures 
to Christ. I Peter ii, 3-8 : '' If so be ye have tasted 
that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto 
a living stone, disallowed, indeed, of men, but chosen 
of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are 
built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to 
offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by 
Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also, it is contained in the 
Scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, 
elect, precious : and he that believeth on him shall not 
be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe, 
he is precious ; but unto them which be disobedient, 
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is 
made the head of the corner, and a stone of stum- 
bling, and a rock of offense, even to them which 
stumble at the word, being disobedient." Here is a 
beautiful inspired comment upon both passages in 
Isaiah, and the one in the Psalms, already quoted, 
and Christ is declared to be the stone of which they 
all speak. He is th& foundation^ laid in Zion. And 
he is the only foundation, " for other foundation 
can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus 
Christ." (i Cor. iii, 41.) Now,hereare the Psalmist, 
and Isaiah, and Peter, and Paul, and Christ himself, 
making Christ the rock, and the only foundation. If 



Errors of the Papacy. 165 

Christ made Peter the rock on which his Church 
was built, he contradicts prophets, apostles, and him- 
self. Surely not even a Romanist can believe that 
he did so. 

Now, look at our Saviour's language to Peter, 
first by itself, and then in the light of those parallel 
passages. Remember the simplicity with which 
Christ always expresses himself. If he had intend- 
ed to tell the world that the Church was built on 
Peter, he would have said with his invariable direct- 
ness, *' Thou art the rock on which I will build my 
Church." And the more, as there is no other Script- 
ure that intimates any such thing, and as, accord- 
ing to the theory, the belief of it is necessary to 
salvation. It is a fact of no small importance in 
this discussion, that in this very address to Peter, 
and immediately succeeding the statement con- 
cerning the rock, Peter was invested with the keys 
of the Kingdom. This interpretation makes Christ 
build an edifice on a certain foundation, and then 
give the keys of the edifice to the foundation. It 
makes the text a gross instance of " mixed meta- 
phor." This is strongly, indeed I might say con- 
clusively, against the Romish view of this text, for 
such incongruities do not deform the discourse of 
our Saviour. (See also Eph. ii. 20.) '' And are 
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and 
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cor- 
ner stone." Peter is not the foundation, but Jesus 
Christ himself. Apostles and prophets lay the 
basis of the structure on him. Not one, not all of 
them together, is the foundation. The foundation 
of the Apostles and prophets, is the doctrine they 



i66 Lecture IX. 

taught, and Christ is the corner stone of all their 
teachings. 

Jesus puts the question to the disciples, " Whom 
say ye that I am?" Peter, ever the prompt spokes- 
man of the twelve, replies, "' Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God." This response was re- 
vealed to him by the Father. It was the first time 
our Lord's true character was formally recognized 
by the disciples. '' And I say unto thee, that thou 
art Peter, and on this rock will I build my Church ; 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
Admire the beautiful significance of the language. 
Peter had confessed Christ in his true character for 
the first time. It was the character which the 
prophets had given him, and they had declared that 
he was the " sure foundation " which God had '* laid 
in Zion." Peter's name was suggestive. ** Thou 
art Peter — rock — thou hast confessed me, the rock 
of the prophets — " and on this rock!' which my 
Father has revealed to you as he did to prophets, 
** will I build my Church." 

Now, you have a plain, consistent, and most 
natural exposition of this text, and one which agrees 
perfectly with the whole of Scripture teaching on 
this subject. The Papal interpretation, on the con- 
trary, is strained and unnatural, and directly hostile 
to every other text bearing upon the same topic. I 
need not ask you which exposition you will receive. 
Some things are so plain that there can be no ques- 
tion about them, and this is one : The Romanist may 
feel himself in duty bound to accept Peter as the 
rock, on the faith of his Church. But his under- 
standing will be on the other side. And who, pray, 



Errors of the Papacy. 167 

is this " sure foundation " on which the Church will 
stand against "the gates of hell?" Is it a frail 
human being, or is it " the Christ, the Son of the 
Living God?" Your Church commands you to be- 
lieve that it was a man, and you must submit ! 
Your reason, your Bible, and your God, command 
you to believe it to be Christ ; you see the triitJi^ 
you admire, you would embrace it, but — the priest 
forbids. Will you yield to him against the noon- 
day radiance in which the truth of God shines 
upon your mind ? Will you believe man rather than 
God? 

Here is the divine rock and the Church built 
on it, and the keys committed to Peter. The 
Apostles, and especially Peter, the habitual spokes- 
man of the company, were to open the kingdom to 
the world by preaching Christ. Binding and loos- 
ing, with divine indorsement, was not the peculiar 
and exclusive prerogative of Peter, as I showed a 
week ago from Matthew xviii, 18. 

And, for the benefit of those who give such high 
authority to the Fathers, I will give you a few 
specimens of their expositions of this passage : 
" Thou art Peter, and upon this rock which thou 
hast confessed, upon this which thou hast acknowl- 
edged, saying, ' Thou art Christ, the Son of the 
living God,' I will build my Church : that is, upon 
myself, the Son of the living God, I will build my 
Church," etc. (St. Augustine on Mat., Sen, 13.) 
" This one foundation is immovable, that is, that 
one blessed rock of faith, confessed by the mouth 
of Peter, ' Thou art the Son of the Living God.' " 
(St. Hilary, Can. 16, de fundam Eccles.) And again, 



i68 Lecture IX. 

*' The building of the Church is upon this rock of 
confession." '' This faith is the foundation of the 
Church ; this faith hath the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven : what this faith shall loose or bind is bound 
and loosed in heaven." (De Trin. L. 6.) See also 
Bede : ** It is said unto him by a metaphor, upon 
this rock, that is, the Saviour whom thou hast con- 
fessed, the Church is builded." 

It is but sober truth to say that the Church of Rome 
has, by her exposition of this passage, forever demon- 
strated the weakness of her cause, and made her claim 
to infallibility ridiculous. Before a man can receive 
this exposition he must be committed to the su- 
premacy of the Pope so fully as to be ready to re- 
ceive propositions crosswise, in order to support it. 

That Peter was not Primate of the primitive 
Church is further evident from the fact that neither 
did he claim, nor the other Apostles award him, 
any official precedence. When he first preached to 
the Gentiles, instead of silently acquiescing, as to 
the act of a superior, they, as his equals, called him 
to account for it ; and he, recognizing them as his 
peers, defended himself at large before them. 
(Acts xi.) In Acts xv we have another illustration 
of Apostolical authority, in which others appear at 
least equal with Peter. It is an account of what has 
sometimes been called the first General Council, 
held at Jerusalem, to settle certain questions in ref- 
erence to the Gentile Churches. There was "much 
disputing" in the assembly, and at last Peter gave 
an account of his preaching first among the Gen- 
tiles, and expressed his opinion. Paul and Barna- 
bas next gave a narrative of the progress of the work 



Errors of the Papacy. 169 

among them, and finally James arose and said, 
*' Hearken unto me." Then, after stating the facts 
of the case, he said, ^^ my sentence is;'' and then pro- 
ceeded to dictate what was afterwards communi- 
cated to the Gentiles as the voice of the Apostles. 
What a happy occasion was here offered for Peter 
to interpose the exercise of his supremacy, if he had 
only enjoyed it. But no : he was only one of the 
Apostles. Paul " withstood him to the face " at one 
time, and declares that '' he was to be blamed." 
Paul must have had queer notions of the submission 
due to the Supreme Pontiff! (Gal. ii, 11.) When he 
and Barnabas were sent to the Gentiles, Paul tells 
us, (Gal. ii, 9,) that '' James, Cephas (or Peter,) and 
John, who seemed to be pillars," concurred in the 
arrangement. Why does he not inform us that 
Pope Peter, with the advice of the Cardinals, James 
and John, sent them upon their mission ? Simply 
because Popes and Cardinals had not been invented. 
They belong to a much later improvement of the 
ecclesiastical system. James, and Peter, and John 
were pillars^ of equal authority with each other in 
the Church of God. Peter exercised no superior- 
ity, and claimed none. He is not even the chief 
character of the Acts of the Apostles, except in the 
earlier period of that primitive history. He is the 
most ardent spirit among the apostles, and conse- 
quently the most active and prominent, until Paul 
appears^ with '^ labors more abundant," and he then 
fills the eye of the historian to the last. If there 
was any thing like a supreme officer in the Church in 
those days, it was Paul, on whom was ^' the care of 
all the Churches." I defy any man to discover in 



I/O Lecture IX. 

the Acts the existence of an organization, of which 
Peter stood at the head. Is it possible that Peter's 
headship, the most important fact of the times, if 
true, could have been wholly overlooked by the in- 
spired historian of those times ? 

No ! The Primacy of Peter has been invented 
by an overgrown and vaunting ecclesiasticism, which, 
having no shadow of a foundation in the Word of 
God, was reduced to the necessity of constructing 
one for itself, and a bungling contrivance it is. They 
ought to be ashamed of it, and, I have no doubt, they 
are. But it is the best they can do, with the material. 
It is an unhappy thing that good intellects should be 
reduced to service in such a cause. 

III. The next question is this : Did Peter estab- 
lish himself at Rome, by Divine authority, as Su- 
preme Pontiff of the Church ? I have already dem- 
onstrated to you that he never had any such office. 
Of course, then, he was never so established in that 
city. But let us inquire as to the mere fact of his 
having ever taken charge of the Church at Rome. 
His presence there, at the head of ecclesiastical af- 
fairs, is absolutely requisite to the Papal theory. It 
was the most important fact of ecclesiastical history, 
if that theory be true. It was the fact which looked 
to the future with more significance than any other, 
and any history that should omit it could be prop- 
erly no history of the Church at all. Would that 
be a history of England that should say nothing of 
her kings ? or that a history of the United States 
which should say nothing of her Presidents? Could 
the briefest synopsis of our history leave out Wash- 
ington City in its metropolitan character ? or 



Errors of the Papacy. 171 

omit to name it as the place of Presidential resi- 
dence? And yet the inspired history of that time 
never once intimates that there is any ecclesiastical 
metropolis, nor that Peter was ever even so much as 
at Rome in his life. Incredible ! And he the HEAD 
of the Church ! and Rome his headquarters ! What, 
I ask you, would be a history of the Roman Church 
now that should say not one word of Rome as the 
residence of the Pope ? It would be no history. 
The idea is too ridiculous to think of. And yet we 
must believe that Luke wrote an inspired history of 
the Church at the very period when Rome was made 
the metropolis of the Christian world, and when the 
first Pope established himself there ; and though he 
devotes many pages to detailed narration, and to 
personal adventure among the apostles, he is as si- 
lent as death in reference to this PRIME FACT ! I 
dare you to believe it ! Credulity is overtasked in 
this demand ! You may swallow it with your eyes 
shut, and your Church will doubtless commend your 
docility ; but believing is another thing. You can't 
look at the facts, and then believe it, to save your life. 
Another fact full of meaning in this discussion is, 
that Paul, in a long epistle to the Church at Rome, 
never once speaks of Peter. At the close of the 
epistle he communicates his Christian greeting to 
twenty-seven persons, male and female, by name, 
besides many others who are not appellatively 
designated. Was Peter, the Jtead of the Church, 
omitted ? Would he greet so many by name, and 
overlook the most important personage among 
them ? Would he forget his former friend and fel- 
low-apostle, older in the apostleship than himself? 



172 Lecture IX. 

The work of evangelization was divided between 
the apostles ; Peter, James, and others taking the 
work among the Jews, and Paul and Barnabas that 
among the Gentiles. (Gal. ii, 7-9.) '* When they 
saw that the Gospel of the uncircumcision was com- 
mitted unto me, as the Gospel of the circumcision 
w^as unto Peter, (for he that wrought effectually in 
Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the 
same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles ;) and 
when James, and Cephas, and John, who seemed to 
be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto 
me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand 
of fellowship : that lue should go unto the heathen^ and 
they unto the circumcision!' This partition of the 
work, Peter taking the lead in the Jewish depart- 
ment, makes it improbable that he ever went to 
Rome, and much more improbable that he ever took 
charge of that Gentile Church. 

The whole testimony of Scripture, then, so far as 
it bears on this subject, is against the supposition 
that Peter was ever at Rome, and amounts to assur- 
ance that he was not Bishop of Rome, and to '' as- 
surance doubly sure " that he was not there in the 
character of universal Pontiff. You may say that 
the testimony is negative. I reply, first, it is a neg- 
ative that I prove by it, and, secondly, in some atti- 
tudes negative testimony is as convincing as posi- 
tive. In the absence of proof that Peter was at 
Rome, the negative testimony is conclusive. And 
with such negative facts as I have given, nothing 
short of imequivocal affirmation could establish the 
contrary. Those who tell us he was in Rome, and 
that in the character of universal Bishop, must prove 



Errors of the Papacy. 173 

it against all the evidence I have given to the con- 
trary. They have a heavy task. 

Now, how do they prove it ? They tell us, from 
antiquity. As to the fact that he was ai; Rome, 
they find it stated in the scco?id century, in the third 
the evidence accumulates, and yet more in th.& fourth. 
And so it came to be universally believed. I have 
traced this matter to its source. Irenaeus, in the 
second century, is the first who makes the state- 
ment. The following is from him : " Since it would 
be very long to enumerate in this volume the suc- 
cession of bishops in all the Churches, by appealing 
to the tradition of a Church, the greatest and most 
ancient, and known to all, which was founded and 
established at Rome by the two most glorious Apos- 
tles, Peter and Paul ; a tradition which she has from 
the Apostles, and the faith which she announces to 
men, and which comes down to us through the suc- 
cession of Bishops, we confound all those who in any 
way, either through evil self-complacency or vain- 
glory, or blindness or perversity, gather otherwise 
than is meet." (Iren. Adv. Haer. lib. iii, c. 3.) In 
reference to this statement of Irenaeus, you will ob- 
serve, first, that he lived in the second century, late 
enough for stories in reference to the Apostles, which 
were not authentic, to begin to gain credit. Sec- 
ondly, some of the statements of Irenaeus we know 
to be untrue. It is not true that Peter and Paul 
" founded and established " the Church at Rome. 
The Church there was '' founded and established " 
long before Paul wrote his Epistle to them, and we 
know he had never been there up to that time. He 
calls the Church at Rome the most ancient of the 



174 Lecture IX. 

Churches, but we know that there had been many 
Churches established before that one, and that the 
Church of Jerusalem was the 7nost ancient of all the 
Christian Churches. Thirdly, he gives tradition as 
his authority. Any one who has observed the fate 
of facts which are committed to traditionary preser- 
vation, and then remembers that tradition had well 
on to a hundred years to do what she pleased with 
these accounts of Irenaeus, and that portions of the 
statement are known to be fabrications, will know 
how to estimate this testimony. Irenaeus was not a 
ivitness of the facts he gives, nor did he get them 
from competent witnesses. He adopted a floating, 
apocryphal story, and gave it the credit of his name. 
It gained more and more credit. There might have 
been traces of truth in it, or there might not. And 
on this evidence they tell me I must believe Peter 
was Bishop of Rome, or be damned ! Bah ! 

You will notice another fact in reference to this 
statement of Irenaeus : even if it were every word 
true, it makes nothing for the Papacy. Does it 
make Peter Bishop of Rome ? No. It gives Paul 
equal prominence with Peter. Further on in this 
same chapter he says : '' These blessed Apostles 
(Peter and Paul), founding and instituting the 
Church (at Rome), delivered the care of administer- 
ing it to Linus, of whom Paul makes mention in his 
Epistle to Timothy." He tells vis also that these 
two Apostles were martyred at Rome. Eusebius, 
probably getting his authority in Irenaeus, says : 
After the martyrdom of Paul and Peter, Linus was 
the first that received the Episcopate at Rome. 
(Book iii, c. 2.) So that this statement, even if 



Errors of the Papacy. 175 

there was no suspicion of Its truth, would only prove 
that Peter was In Rome as an Apostle, just as he 
had been In many other places ; and It makes noth- 
ing for the pretensions of his pretended successors. 

Behold the rock of Rome ! It is a very soft sand- 
stone, which the attrition of investigation soon wears 
away, and the vast pile, constructed of assumptions, 
lies in complete ruin. 

IV. Had Peter any successor In the Pontificate? 
No, for he could have no successor in an office which 
he never held. But If I should even grant that he 
was the rock on which Christ built the Church, the 
Romanist could never show that he was to have a 
successor. If Christ did mean Peter when he said, 
" On this rock I will build my Church," that gives 
no warrant for a succession of men after him In the 
same position. And I defy any man to find the law 
of succession. It does not exist. And a succession 
of foundations is absurd. 

The apostolic office embraced all the functions of 
the ministry, and something more which was pecul- 
iar to Itself. They inaugurated the Christian dis- 
pensation. They were authorized to define and es- 
tablish the Christian doctrine, and this authority 
was vindicated by miraculous gifts. Ministers of 
the Gospel succeeded them as pastors and teachers, 
with this limitation, that they are to teach only 
what the Apostles did. Their extraordinary official 
functions and personal endow^ments were appropri- 
ate to their position. In them you may be sure they 
have no living successors. If there be such succes- 
sors, let them show the ^' proof of their apostleship!' 
Let them do the works of an Apostle. Here we 



1/6 Lecture IX. 

might let the whole subject of succession sleep, but 
faithful history has a word to say, and I proceed to 
show, 

V. That the Popes of Rome are the last men on 
earth who could be supposed to be the successors 
of Peter, even if he had any. 

For, first, there are several fatal breaks in the chain 
of succession, that nobody can mend. There is no 
proof that the Papal chain connects with Peter at 
all ; there is the first break. They have been tinker- 
ing at this a long time, but to no purpose; it will 
stay broke. Of the numerous irregularities through 
which it is impossible to trace the succession with 
any certainty, I will give you but a specimen or two. 
In the eleventh century Benedict and Sylvester were 
alternately elected and ousted by opposing factions, 
and, during the lifetime of both, Benedict sold out 
to John. Afterwards all three of them maintained 
their pretensions at once, and all sold out to Gratian. 

In the fourteenth century the Cardinals elected 
Urban to the Pontificate. This election, however, 
as they affirmed, was invalid, being controlled by a 
powerful mob. They retired to Fundi, and there, 
acting without restraint, elected Clement. The two 
Vicars held Christendom between them, and were 
each in due time succeeded at their death by others 
who maintained the rivalry. The Council of Pisa 
was convened to put an end to the schism. It de- 
posed them both, and elected Alexander. This did 
no good. Indeed it made matters worse, for now 
there were three Popes instead of one, and Europe 
was well divided among them all. Another Council, 
that of Constance, at last terminated the quarrel by 



Errors of the Papacy. 177 

deposing them all, and electing another. By this 
time Europe was tired of the struggle, and gave in 
to the acts of the Council. A half century was con- 
sumed in these disputes. Such are the breaks in 
the chain. 

Secondly. The See of Rome has often been filled 
by violence and fraud. Upon the election of Dam- 
asus, " many Christians were killed in the Churches 
of Rome." (Du. Pin.) Formosus, in 893, secured 
the Pontificate by bribery and the assistance of 
Arnolf, the Gothic King. His successor had him 
disinterred, tried before a Roman Synod, and con- 
demned. The decaying corpse was stripped, the 
head and fingers cut off, and the body flung into the 
Tiber. Baronius tells us that Alexander was elected 
by Cardinals, some of whom were bribed, some al- 
lured by promises of promotion, and others by fel- 
lowship in his vices and impurities. Genebrard says, 
" For almost one hundred and fifty years about fifty 
Popes, having departed from the virtue of their pre- 
decessors, were apostate rather than apostolical ; at 
which time they entered in not by the door, but by 
a dack door, that is to say, by the power of the Em- 
perors." (Chron. ad. Ann. 901.) Hear another Papal 
annalist on the corruptions that have controlled the 
elevation of men to the Papal throne : '' Hast thou 
heard of the most deplorable state of things at this 
time, when Theodora the elder, a strumpet of noble 
family, obtained supreme control, if I may so say, 
in the city of Rome ? She prostituted her daugh- 
ters to the Popes, the invaders of the apostolic seat, 
and to the Marquises of Tuscany, by which means 
the dominion of such wricked women became so 



178 Lecture IX. 

absolute that they removed at pleasure the lawfully 
created Popes, and^ having expelled them, introduced 
violent and MOST WICKED MEN in their places '' (Bar- 
onius.) Now, if Peter ever had successors in Rome, 
the succession was lost long ago in these violent, 
bloody and corrupt strifes in the Papal elections. 
That is no apostolical succession with which Kings, 
strumpets, bribes and bloodshed have had so much 
to do. 

Thirdly. The assumptions of the Popes prove 
them to be no successors of Peter. 

1st, their title. They are called '' Most Holy." 
The canon law in the gloss denominates the Pope 
'* the Lord God." Marcellus, in a Lateran Council, 
called Pope Julius " a God on earth," and no one 
objected. B^llarmine, on authority of Councils, says 
(Book 2, c. 17), ''AH the names which are given in the 
Scriptures to Christ, even these same names, are given 
to the Pope — whence it appears that he is superior 
to the Church." Upon these '' names of blasphemy," 
I need offer no comment. They alone are sufficient 
to be the death of the Papacy. The title of '' Uni- 
versal Bishop " is enough to convict the Popes. 
*' Sovereign Pontiff" is still worse. The Bishops of 
Rome never enjoyed these titles until A. D. 606, 
when they were conferred on Boniface II L by the 
Emperor Phocas. Previous to that, in the time of 
the first Gregory, called the Great, John, Bishop of 
Constantinople, had assumed such titles. The 
Romish Bishop, Gregory, rebuked him terribly. He 
wrote him a long and earnest remonstrance, from 
which I select a few passages. '' I beg, I entreat, 
and I beseech, with all possible suavity, that your 



Errors of the Papacy. 179 

brotherhood resist all these flatterers who offer you 
this NAME OF ERROR, and that you refuse to be 
designated by so foolish and so proud an appella- 
tion." Speaking of his predecessors in the See of 
Rome, he says, ^^ none snatched at this rash name, 
lest, if he should seize on this singular glory of the 
Pontificate, he should seem to deny it to all his 
brethren." Those early Bishops of Rome had in- 
finitely more modesty than their successors. Greg- 
ory at the same time wrote to the Emperor Mau- 
ritius : " Now this brother, by a presumptioyi never 
before known ^ contrary to the precepts of the Gospel^ 
and to the decrees of the canons, usurping a new 
name, glorying in new and profane titles, which blas- 
phemy be far from every Christian heart, would be 
called Universal Bishop; but in this his pride 
what doth he but show THE TIME OF ANTI-Christ 
approaches, because he imitates him who, despising 
his brother angels, would rise to a height peculiar 
to himself, that he might be subject to none. When 
he who is called universal FALLS, the Church that 
has consented to that profane name, hath rushed 
headlong from its state ; but far be that BLASPHE- 
MOUS NAME from the hearts of Christians. To con- 
sent to that wicked word universal, is nothing else 
but to destroy the faith." And yet Mauritius' suc- 
cessor in the Empire conferred this blasphemous 
name on Gregory's successor, who very willingly ac- 
cepted it, and since his day there has not been a 
man in the Roman See modest enough to decline 
it. Anti-Christ has come. 

2d. The assumption of temporal power places the 

Popes beyond the line of apostolical succession. I 
12 



i8o Lecture IX. 

can not elaborate this argument, but you will see 
the force of it. When the teacher of religion, in- 
stead of submitting to '' the powers that be," and 
honoring them, as the apostles direct, resists them 
and attacks them, he forfeits the character of the 
minister of God. The Popes have gone so far as 
to depose sovereigns and break up governments. 
Gregory the Seventh deposed Henry, the Emperor 
of Germany. '^ On the part of the Omnipotent God, 
I forbid Henry to govern the kingdoms of Germany 
and Italy. I absolve all his subjects from every 
oath which they have taken or may take to him ; 
and I excommunicate every person who shall serve 
him as king." So the Emperor Frederick was de- 
posed by the Pope. And in the thirteenth century 
Gregory Ninth issued this sweeping decree : '' Be it 
known to all who are under the dominion of heretics, 
that they are set free from every tie of fidelity or 
duty to them; a/l oa t /is a.nd solemn engagements 
to the contrary notwithstanding." 

3d. That the Papacy is ?il great persecuting poiver^ 
and, therefore, never came from Peter. I will give 
you but one instance — the '' Bull of Pope Innocent 
VIII. for the extermination of the Vaudois." 



" Innocent the Bishop, servant of the servants of God, (!!!) 
to our well beloved son Albertus do Capitaneis : * * * \Yg 
have thought fit to appoint you, by these presents, our Nuncio 
and Commissary of the Apostolic See, for the cause of God 
and of the faith, in the dominions of our dear son Charles, 
Duke of Savoy, etc., to the intent that you may cause the said 
Inquisitor (Blasius de Mont-Royal) to be received and admitted 
to the free exercise of his office; and we, by these presents, 
grant you a full and entire license and authority to call, and 



Errors of the Papacy. i8i 

instantly to require, by yourself, or by any other person or 
persons, all the Archbishops and Bishops in the Duchy of 
Dauphiny, and the parts adjacent, and to command them, in 
virtue of holy obedience, together with the venerable brethren, 
our ordinaries, or their vicars, or the officials general in the 
cities and dioceses wherein you may see meet to proceed to 
the premises and execute the office which we have enjoined 
you, and with the aforesaid Inquisitor, that they be assisting 
to you in the things mentioned, and with one consent proceed 
along with you to the execution of them ; that they take arms 
as'amst the said Waldenses and other heretics, and with com- 
mon counsels and measures crush and tread them as ve7iomoiis 
serpents. 

" And if you think it expedient that all the faithful in those 
places should carry the salutary cross on their hearts and on 
their garments, to animate them to fight resolutely against these 
heretics — to cause to preach and publish the crusade by the 
proper preachers of the Word of God, and to grant unto those 
who take the cross and fight against these heretics, or who 
contribute thereunto, the privilege of gaiiiing a pie?iary in- 
dulgence, and the remission of all their sins ONCE iit their 
lifetime, and likewise at the POINT OF death, by virt2ie of 
the commission given you above — and likewise to dispense with 
them as to any irregularity they may be chargeable with in 
divine things, or by any apostasy, and to agree and compound 
with them as to goods which they inay have clandestinely or 
by stealth acquired, or which they dishonestly or doubtfully 
possess, applying them only for the support of the expedition 
for exterminating the heretics. * * * j^ the meantime to 
choose, appoint and confirm, in our name and in the name of 
the Romish Chtcrch, one or more captains or leaders of the 
war, over the crossed soldiers — to grant further to ever}^ one of 
them a permission to seize and freely possess the goods of the 
heretics, whether movable or immovable — moreover to deprive 
all those who do not obey your admonitions and mandates, of 
whatever dignity, state, degree, order or pre-eminence they be, 
ecclesiastics of their dignities, offices and benefices ; and secular 
persons of their honors, titles, fiefs and privileges, if they persist 



iS2 Lecture IX. 

in their disobedience and rebellion — and to fulminate all sorts of 
censures, according as justice, rebellion, or disobedience shall 
appear to you to require." 

The date is the 5th of the calends of May, 1487, 
The original is preserved in the library of the Uni- 
versity of Cambridge. I thought you might like 
to see a specimen of those celebrated bulls that have 
been so often sent from Rome, bellowing up and 
down the world, on the hunt of blood. This one 
was sent down into Dauphiny to destroy the heretics. 
And I just ask you to recall the last paragraph of 
it, and see by what means men were incited to join 
the crusade. 

Rome turns out a mad bull upon the world now 
and then, even to this day, though they are not 
near so dangerous as they used to be. One was 
sent against the Bible Society not long ago. You 
have heard of the Irishman who w^as pursued by an 
infuriated brute of the same species. Patrick (I be- 
lieve that was his name) suddenly put himself on 
the other side of a fence. His disappointed assail- 
ant tossed his head up and down, and pawed the 
earth in his rage, seeing which, Patrick very politely 
accepted his earnest apologies for the unprovoked 
assault. The Bible Societies of Great Britain and 
this country are on the safe side of the fence, thank 
God ! and we intend to keep them there. We can 
afford to laugh at the bootless fury of the bulls. 
Their horns fairly ache to get at us, but we are over 
the fence. 

These assumptions of blasphemous titles, of tem- 
poral authority, and of persecuting power are all at 
war with the claim of succcssorship to Peter. 



Errors of the Papacy. 183 

Fourthly, Many of the Popes have been mon- 
sters of vice. This I have shown at large in a form- 
er lecture, from their own authors, Maguire, a 
Popish priest of Ireland, in a debate with Pope, in 
Dublin, in 1827, said that there had been only eleven 
Popes '^ whose conduct and lives could be arraigned 
as absolutely criminal^ Bishop Purcell, in his de- 
bate with Alexander Campbell, at Cincinnati, in 
1837, thought that not more than twenty oi them 
could be *' called bad men." Genebrard, who had a 
better opportunity of judging, thought there had 
been fifty such in a hundred and fifty years. Bishop 
Purcell uttered the pious conviction that the bad 
Popes were '* expiating their crimes in the penal 
fires of hell," while he was supporting the claims of 
the Church in the debate. 

Fifthly. I have yet one more reason to assign 
why the Popes of Rome are the last men who could 
be supposed to be the successors of Peter, if he had 
any, and that is that they are temporal princes j by 
virtue of their spiritual office. This European mag- 
nate is no successor of an apostle, you may be cer- 
tain of that. They don't belong to the Kingdom 
which '■'■ is not of this world," The good or bad 
character of the government of the Papal States 
does not affect this question. The office, which 
carries with it civil dominion, has not the " sim- 
plicity of Christ " to recommend it to our accept- 
ance. 

The Pope has some staunch friends among us, 
though, who would almost make us fall out with our 
own Republic, in their eulogies of the Pontifical 
Government. A few more such speeches as we have 



1 84 Lecture IX. 

recently had in the Mercantile Library Hall, and we 
may look for a great Hegira from this wicked coun- 
try, where mfanticide is the national cri^ne^ (save the 
mark !) to the happy and innocent territories of the 
Church, where no one ever died for the want of 
bread. They would make us believe that that is a 
free country, where there is no constitution, and 
where the supreme Executive is elected by a hand- 
ful of men appointed by his predecessor. They sol- 
emnly assure us that personal liberty is enjoyed and 
rights respected, where a man's child may be secret- 
ly baptized, and then forcibly taken away from him 
as the property of the Church, and kept, while he 
moves heaven and earth in vain for its restoration ! 
They expect us to believe that the land of beggars 
is a prosperous and happy land, and call on our cit- 
izens, taxed almost to death, according to their 
showing, to relieve the burden of the Pope's sub- 
jects, who are scarcely taxed at all ! ! ! And as for 
intelligence, forsooth, the Romans outdo the world ! 
We must go where the people have an annual festi- 
val, on which the Pope, in solemn state, blesses the 
horses and asses, to prevent colic and balking ; where 
a doll in fine clothes receives more fees than any 
physician ; where sacred hair and toe-nails abound, 
and where fragments of the true cross are on sale for 
all comers — we must go tJiere to find the highest 
mental cultivation. By the way, did you ever ask 
yourself how this exhaustless supply of fragments of 
the '' true cross " is maintained; for there is no end 
of these invaluable splinters. I'll tell you. I have 
a guess. And I have a right to guess, for, though a 
native Missourian, my pedigree is pure Yankee, de- 



Errors of the Papacy. 185 

scending from Hartford in 1635, without the admix- 
ture of a degenerating drop of blood, pure Puritan. 
Well, I guess, then, that it is by a process of trait- 
siibstajttiation that the true cross becomes so inex- 
haustible. And why not? If bread and wine can 
be changed into flesh and blood, why may not one 
piece of timber be changed into another piece of 
timber ? Certainly. And I would not be surprised 
if there is an office in Rome where this wonderful 
transmutation is carried on. 

And they come to us here in St. Louis with their 
stories about the intelligence of the Romans, and 
such stuff. If they expect such a mess to be swal- 
lowed, let them go where the people think General 
Jackson is alive yet. I have heard, though I can't 
vouch for the truth of it, that when Senator Polk 
was running for the office of Governor, there were 
men, somewhere on the " borders of civilization," 
who thought he was the old President Polk, and 
supposed they were contributing their suffiages to 
elevate him to the gubernatorial chair of Missouri. 
Let them go there, if they can find the place, with 
their incredible stories. Or, if they will force them 
upon us, let them give us broken doses, in such 
quantities as we can retain. 

I hear some ticklish brother say : " Take care, you 
will preach politics ! " Don't be frightened, broth- 
er ; you may manage your politics as you please. 
I shall have nothing to do with them. But here is 
an effort in St. Louis to glorify a great politico-ec- 
clesiastical system, and make it palatable to the 
American mind. This is a most natural stepping- 
stone to the vision of the Shepherd of the Valley, 



i86 Lecture IX. 

when religious toleration shall come to an end — a 
consummation always devoutly wished at Rome. 
If no one else will stand up against these insidious 
approaches of despotism, it is my duty, and I will 
do it. The commerce between Church and State 
is essentially and eternally illicit, and the progeny 
deformed and hideous. The result at Rome is dis- 
astrous to-day, and any effort to conceal or deny the 
fact, and reconcile us to such a monstrous perver- 
sion of government, deserves public rebuke. While 
God spares me, I'll keep a wedge to drive in between 
the civil and ecclesiastical functions, and do what lit- 
tle I may to keep them apart forever. That is a 
union that must be kept in a state of dissolution. It 
is religious to hate it. 

We have seen that Christ constituted no human 
head of the Church ; that himself, not Peter, is the 
rock on which the Church is built ; that Peter had 
no official precedence of the other apostles ; that 
there is no contemporaneous proof that Peter was 
ever in Rome ; that the first statement to that effect 
which we have was made long afterward, and on the 
credit of tradition, and in connection with other 
statements which we know to be untrue ; that even 
that traditional account does not show that he was 
Bishop of Rome ; that all the facts are against the 
assumption that he was universal Bishop ; that 
neither he nor any of the apostles had successors in 
what was peculiar to them as apostles, and that the 
Popes of Rome are the last men who could claim 
to be his successors, if he had any. They are the 
last men to make this claim, on account of their 
unscriptural and blasphemous assumption of titles 



Errors of the Papacy. 187 

that belong to anti-Christ, and of powers that do 
not belong to the spiritual order ; on account of 
breaks in the succession, of corruptions in their 
elections in many cases, of wickedness in many of 
the incumbents, and of the temporal sovereignty 
connected with the Pontificate. 

Here you have the Papal rock ! Will it do to 
build on? Have the gates of hell never prevailed 
against it? Not when Theodora controlled the 
elections, and prostituted her daughters to the 
Popes? Tell me ! 

" Their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies 
themselves being judges.'* Our Rock is Christ ; 
build on this, and the floods may beat against your 
house in vain. 

Next Sunday evening I will deliver a lecture on 
Tradition. 



1 88 Lecture X. 



LECTURE X. 

TRADITION. 

" Then the Pharisees and Scribes asked him, Why walk not thy 
disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with 
unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath 
Esaias prophesied of you, hypocrites, as it is wi^itten. This people 
honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. How- 
beit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the com- 
mandments of men. For, laying aside the commandment of God, 
ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups ; and 
many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them. Full 
well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your 
own tradition. For Moses said. Honor thy father and thy mother ; 
and. Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death ; but ye 
say. If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is 
to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he 
shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father 
or his mother ; making the word of God of none effect through 
your tradition, which ye have delivered ; and many such like things 
do ye." — Mark vii, 5-13. 

PROTESTANTS admit nothing but Holy Script- 
ure as the Rule of Faith. "The Bible, and the 
Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants." With us, 
nothing but this book is authoritative in questio?is of 
faith. Romanists, on the other hand, receive tra- 
dition as of equal authority with Scripture. See 
Council of Trent, Sess. iv, '' Decree concerning the 
Canonical Scriptures." '' Saving truth and moral 
discipline ^ "^ ^ ^ are contained in the written 
books, and the unwritten traditions which, received 
by the apostles from the mouth of Christ himself, 



Errors of the Papacv. 189 

or from the apostles themselves, the Holy Ghost 
dictating, have come down even unto us, transmit- 
ted, as it were, from hand to hand ; (the Synod) 
following the examples of the orthodox Fathers, 
receives and venerates, with an equal affection of 
piety and reverence, all the books, both of the Old 
and of the New Testament — seeing that one God 
is the author of both — as, also, the said traditions, 
as well as those appertaining to faith as to morals, 
as having been dictated, either by Christ's own word 
of mouth, or by the Holy Ghost, and preserved in 
the Catholic Church by a continuous succession." 
I quote from a translation made by a priest, and 
dedicated ''to the Right Reverend N. Wiseman, 
D. D., Bishop of Melipotamus, and pro-vicar Apos- 
tolic of the London District," by '' his Lordship' s'' 
permission. I procured it at the Catholic book 
store, on Third-street. It is, therefore, good au- 
thority. The theory, then, is, that the apostles 
committed a portion of the saving truth to writing, 
and another portion of it they communicated to the 
Church orally, and that by tradition this portion 
has been preserved unadulteiated In the Church to 
this day, so that these traditions of the Church are 
to be received as of equal authority with the written 
Scriptures. In other words, they are an important 
portion of the inspired rule of faith. 

This is a most delusive theory, and fraught with 
incalculable mischief. The traditions of the Roman 
Church, so far from carrying with them apostolical 
authority, consist of customs and notions which 
gradually crept into the Church after the apostles 
had gone to their reward, many of which are not 



iQO Lecture X. 

only erroneous, but pernicious, and, indeed, most 
pestilent heresies. 

But let us hear its advocates. They commend 
tradition to us as an essential branch of the Rule of 
Faith, by an analogy with the common law — tJie 
uinvrittcn laiv. Now, I don't profess to be a law- 
yer, but every lawyer present will endorse the asser- 
tion that the analogy between common law and the 
rule of faith fails by all tJic differcucc jJicrc is bc- 
tivccn municipal law and religious fait Ji. The very 
idea o{ a comparison between the mode of creating 
the one and ascertaining the other, is simply pre- 
posterous. To satisfy yourself of this, consider the 
following facts : 

1. Common law springs from the emergencies of 
society, and is constructed b)' experience and cus- 
tom, while the Rule of Faith emanates from the 
mind of God. 

Communities, from the actual development of 
their associate existence, ascertain what regulations 
are necessary for the common weal, adopt those reg- 
ulations by common consent ; and, finally, when 
they become immemorial customs (Blackstone Com. 
Int. Sec. 3, pp. 64-76) they are dignified and 
observed as laws, and enforced by the authority of 
the State. It is thus that States provide for their 
own peace, and secure the indefeasible rights of the 
citizen. 

2. The Common Law is variable — the Rule of 
Faith is immutable. 

The customs of a commonwealth are affected by 
a thousand facts, such as the accession of new ele- 
ments, the progress of civilization, the accumula- 



Errors of the Papacy. 191 

tion of wealth, the extension of commerce, and so 
on. Blackstone says (Int. Sec. 3, p. 64) : " Doubt- 
less, by the intermixture of adventitious nations, 
the Romans, the Picts, the Saxons, the Danes and 
the Normans, they must have insensibly introduced 
and incorporated many of their own customs with 
those that were before established." This has ref- 
erence to Great Britain, and exhibits the fact that 
I have stated. Whatever change there may be in 
the internal life of a people must affect their laws. 
New exigencies arise, and occasion new customs, 
while old ones become obsolete, and remain on the 
pages of ancient books among the neglected lum- 
ber of the past, disregarded by the jurist, and prized 
only by the historian. They are invested with a 
certain interest, as teaching us what manner of men 
our fathers were, but without value as present guard- 
ians of right. Justice, to be sure, is the polar star 
toward which the compass of law must always point. 
But it is the business of law to adjust the processes 
of justice to the shifting developments of life. It is 
flexible and adaptable, and so embraces every new 
want of the body politic. 

The Rule of Faith is not so. It is not affected by 
" times or men's manners." It has respect to un- 
varying relations and immutable truth. Its adapta- 
tion is on a higher level than that of municipal law. 
It belongs to man as he is fallen and redeemed, 
and not to man as he is Englishman, Frenchman, 
Italian, German or American ; not to man as he is 
a merchant, mechanic, farmer, physician or lawyer. 
The little tides of nationality and custom, in their 
swell and subsidence, never disturb the high level of 



192 Lecture X. 

existence to which the Rule of Faith is adjusted. 
In all countries, and amid all nations, it remains 
the same. 

There might be some propriety in a comparison 
of common law and ecclesiastical discipline, but the 
Rule of Faith stands on other ground. 

3. There are uncertainties in the precedents and 
records which guide the jurist in deciding questions 
of common law. (See Blackstone, Intro., sec. 3, p. 
70.) Sometimes the judge is obliged to look beyond 
precedents, and even to disregard them, although 
they be the recognized exponents of the law. Such 
contradictoriness is entirely incompatible with the 
divine standard of ^' saving truth." 

4. The Common Law is the outgrowth of associ- 
ate vitality, and exhibits the marks and imperfec- 
tions of its parentage. The Rule of Faith is the 
product of the Divine Intelligence, and is perfect. 
The one indicates the animus of society, the other 
the mind of the Spirit. 

5. The Common Law is based on human authori- 
ty. In municipal affairs men have the right to es- 
tablish such regulations as they find, by experience, 
most conducive to the common good. Those regula- 
tions, adopted by the people at large, come at 
length to carry with them the authority of the 
State. In matters of faith men have no such right. 
Here they are not dealing with each other, but 
with God. It is his province to prescribe, theirs to 
acquiesce. The full weight of Divi?ie authority ac- 
companies the Rule of Faith. 

6. As Municipal Law rests on human authority, 
so, also, it respects outzvard actions. Hence it fol- 



Errors of the Papacy. 193 

lows that the State may enforce it by the sanction 
of pains and penalties ; and corporeal punishment of 
criminals is the result. Such inflictions are not ad- 
missible in ecclesiastical administration, for the 
reason that the ultimate responsibility of each in- 
dividual is to his Maker, and that each violation, or 
supposed violation, of the Rule of Faith involves 
facts that belong to the secret soul, and can be as- 
certained and appreciated by no human judicatory. 
Nothing short of Omniscience is capable of adjudi- 
cating cases of spiritual delinquency. The Church 
may, indeed, exercise such discipline as shall most 
conduce to the piety of her members. She has 
even the right to excommunicate, as an act of self- 
preservation, and for the benefit and warning of 
incorrigible members. But she has no right to as- 
sess and inflict the penalties of God's law. That 
awful prerogative he has reserved to himself. It is 
the office of the Church to save. To this end she 
must exert herself with the gentleness of beneficent 
energy and inexhaustible patience ; " in meekness 
instructing ihosQ: who oppose themselves," x\o\. pun- 
ishing them. '^ Vengeance belongeth to the Lord." 
Let no human hands undertake to wield his bolts ! 

You see how completely the analogy fails. But 
the Romanists will tell you that the presence of 
Christ in the Church constitutes its vitality, and that 
this fact constitutes a divine preservative against er- 
ror. The Church, they assure us, is so replete with 
this divine vitality that it can never mistake Chris- 
tian doctrine. But, I ask you, How is this vitality in 
the Church ? Is it in the aggregate Church, or in 
cacJi individual? Evidently the life of an organiza- 



194 Lecture X. 

tion is made up of the life of all its members. It is 
the aggregation of individual life. Accordingly we 
are told that a servant girl will instinctively detect 
a heresy that may be proposed to her. 

Now, if this be true, it involves the personal in- 
spiration of every member of the Church. Then 
there is no sort of use for general councils to estab- 
lish articles of belief. There is no use for instruc- 
tion. Tradition itself becomes unnecessary, for ev- 
ery member of the Church receives truth from the 
very fountain. But if the divine vitality be not in 
the individual members, then it is not in the aggre- 
gate membership, because the aggregate vitality is 
made up of the individual. 

And if the Church be infallible on this theory^ it 
must be also immaculate. For the theory is that she 
is an infallible depository of truth, on account of the 
divine life that is in her. She does not receive the 
truth by external revelation, but knows it by virtue 
of an indwelling life. Now, impurity is as repulsive 
to this divine vitality as falsehood is ; and if the 
Church is so full of the Life that any servant girl is 
a touchstone of truth, so must every one be a touch- 
stone of purity. I have shown you, in former lect- 
ures, how, for centuries together, the Roman Church 
has been made over to all sorts of vice and cor- 
ruption. And take the facts as they are at this day, 
and in this country. I can fully appreciate the vir- 
tues of the Romanists. I should despise myself if 
my opposition to that Church could be transferred 
to its members. The Church is to be distinguished 
from individuals. Many members of that commun- 
ion, in our city, are distinguished for large-mind- 



Errors of the Papacy. 195 

edness and many personal excellencies. Many 
of them, doubtless, are persons of sincere piety. 
Though they exclude me from the pale of Christian 
recognition, and acquiesce in the many curses which 
their Church pronounces upon me as a heretic, I 
hope to see them in a better world, where I know 
they will rejoice greatly that the anathemas of the 
Vatican took no effect. Yet, after making the 
largest allowance in favor of the Church, is Roman- 
ism, as exhibited in our midst, impeccable? I in- 
tend no comparison of Romanists and Protestants. 
The naked question is, Is the Roman Church so full 
of Christ as to be incapable of error ? Then she is 
incapable of sin, for reasons already given. Are 
there no swearers, no Sabbath-breakers among them ? 
No intemperance, nor any other vice? Alas! we 
all know that thousands of them are habitually and 
grossly sinful. I happened to be a good deal along 
the lines of our railroads while they were in course 
of construction. Pay-day always brought the inev- 
itable priest to receive the dollar a month which 
'' the Church " assessed upon each laborer. It was 
reserved from the wages, and paid over to the pub- 
lican-priest. And what was left went mainly to the 
shanty keepers and the grog-shops. Where is the 
divine vitality ? 

It appears, then, from every point of view, that 
the Roman Church is wanting, sadly so, in the 
claim of plenary divine presence, necessary, in her 
own estimation, to constitute her the infallible 
guardian of Apostolic Tradition. 

I have shown you that the common law can sup- 
port no analogy with the Rule of Faith, but I grant 
la 



196 Lecture X. 

that the analogy does hold between that species of 
law and Roman Traditions — and for that very rea- 
son, if there were no other, they constitute no part 
of the Rule of Faith. First, the common law and 
the traditions of Rome are alike the result of emer- 
gencies in the respective communities in which they 
exist. Secondly, they are alike variable, changing 
with all the fluctuating phases of associate life, su- 
perinduced by the presence of new and variant ele- 
ments of vitality. For three hundred years the 
Church was thrown entirely upon herself and God, 
often maintaining her existence under terrible per- 
secutions, and always without State patronage, and 
beyond the sphere of political influences. Then the 
Emperor Constantine was converted, and patronized 
the Church, and intermeddled in her affairs. Then 
the city of the CiTesars became the chief center of 
ecclesiastical influence, and ecclesiastics began to 
exert an influence in political affairs. A new phase 
in the " associate vitality " of the Church appears, 
and the ecclesiastical common law — tradition — un- 
dergoes a change. The Church becomes proud of 
Rome, and the great Past of the Roman people is 
studied, and admired, and imitated. At Rome you 
are in contact with a noble antiquity — the most im- 
posing of all others save that of sacred histor}^ In 
the East you are in the presence of a remoter Past, 
but not so grand, nor yet so palpable. It is too re- 
mote — it is mythical. The Roman Past is histor- 
ical, and human enough to be taken into our fellow- 
ship. Never did humanity sweep along the track 
of time with a sublimer march than in the days of 
the Republic and the earlier periods of the Empire. 



Errors ok the Papacy. 197 

But, alas for the Church ! exposed to the contagion 
of the grand old Roman Mythology, she did not es- 
cape, and behold that mythology in her traditions 
now ! The Pontifex Maximus is perpetuated, name 
and all, in the Supreme Pontiff; and there are the 
vestal virgins renewed in the nuns. There are the 
priests and sacrifices, and purgatory and lustral wa- 
ter, variously modified, but all appearing in the tra- 
ditions established by this common law. And even 
the hero-gods are duplicated in the saints, and in 
the legends of their superhuman deeds, and in the 
homage paid them when they ascend celestial seats. 
Even the statues of the gods have given way to the 
images of the saints. Amongst other remains of 
pagan antiquity. Christian Romans found on their 
hands a statue of Jupiter. It was a happy thought, 
and economical withal, to convert this superb piece 
of statuary to religious uses under a better dispensa- 
tion. Why might it not stand for the prince of the 
Apostles? Only the countenance of the old Thun- 
derer was scarcely meek enough. So they cut his 
head off, and replaced it with another of approved 
apostolical expression, and christened it the Statue 
of Peter. A wag was looking at it once, and said, 
'^ You were the statue of Jupiter once, and you are 
the statue of Jeiv-Peter stills 

In the Romanizing and Paganizing of religion 
you have one new phase of organic vitality, which 
gives existence to this traditional common law. 
Then came the '' Northern hordes," and swept over 
Southern Europe. The Church encountered and 
converted them, and received from them yet another 
element into her vitality. The ''Dark Ages" fol- 



198 Lecture X. 

lowed, with their superstition and licentiousness. 
Religion gave up the mind and heart, and addressed 
itself to the imagination. Imposing ceremonials 
replaced the simple worship of primitive times, and 
mysterious rites were suppHed to the demand of a 
morbid superstition. Transubstantiation appears 
among the traditions, and at last commands recog- 
nition as a portion of the accumulating common law. 
Scholasticism appeared. Scholasticism was ex- 
tremely subtle, but it was philosophy in a strait- 
jacket. The scholastics seem to have devoted them- 
selves to mental mechanics in one department — 
that is, to experimenting upon the ductility of ideas. 
As nearly as I can comprehend them, they seemed 
to feel that they were realizing the chief end of ex- 
istence, when they could start the hundredth part of 
a thought and chase it to death. 

All these elements, entering into the ecclesiastical 
life, tended to develop and augment the common 
law of the Church. And that I do the Roman 
Church no injustice in asserting that customs, in 
vital matters, grow to be laws within her pale, I 
will give you some quotations from St. Liguori. 
This writer is one of the most distinguished casuists 
of his Church, and his works, entitled Moral Theol- 
ogy, are held in the highest estimation. He was 
canonized by Pope Pius VII, within the present 
centuiy. This Saint tells us that, '• Custom is defined 
the unwritten law. In order that custom should 
obtain the force and obligation of law, three things 
are required: i. That it be introduced not by any 
particular person, but by the majority of a commu- 
nity, which is capable of making laws, although, in 



Errors of the Papacy. 199 

fact, said community cannot make the laws. 2. It 
is required that the custom be reasonable, etc. 
What classes of acts are legalized by custom appears 
from the following : " Merchandizing, and the selling 
of goods at auction on the Sundays, is, on account 
of its being the general custom, altogether lawful. 
Buying and selling goods on the Lord's Day, and 
on festival days, are certainly forbidden by the 
canonical law ; but where the contrary custom pre- 
vails it is excusable''' 

Again, "He who makes use of the knavery and 
cunning which is usually practiced in gambling, and 
which has the sanction of custom, is not bound to 
restore what he wins, since both parties know that 
such tricks are customar}^, and consequently they 
consent to them." '' The canons which forbid 
games of hazard do not appear to be received, ex- 
cept inasmuch as the gambling is carried on with the 
danger of scajtdal. Be it known that the above 
mentioned canonical law is so much nullified by the 
contrary custom, that not only laymen, but even the 
clergy, do not sin, if they play cards principally for 
the sake of recreation, and for a moderate sum of 
money y Hear him once more; "On the entrance 
of a prince or nobleman into a city, it is lawful on a 
Sunday, to prepare the drapery, arrange the theater, 
etc., and to act a comedy ; also, to exhibit the bull 
fights. The reason is, because such marks of joy 
are morally necessary for tJie public weal'' I have 
said that the Romish common law is variable ; 
facts and St. Liguori are my witnesses. 

Thirdly, the analogy holds still further; for the 
monuments, and precedents b)' which tradition is 



200 Lecture X. 

ascertained, are contradictor}^ and uncertain. Fa- 
thers differ, Popes contradict each other, and Coun- 
cils clash. The man who undertakes to find the 
*' unanimous consent of Fathers," will find a task 
that would have driven one of the old schoolmen 
to his wit's end. On this diversity of doctrine in 
the Roman Church I have been sufficiently explicit 
in a former lecture. 

Fourthly, it will be sufficiently apparent, from 
what has been said already, that the traditions of that 
Church are but the outgrowth of its '' associate vi- 
tality." The analogy is still maintained. And from 
the elements of that vitality which 1 have exhibited 
in part, the character of its products may be easily 
determined. 

Fifthly, From all this it results that their author- 
ity is but human, like that of the common law. 

And, sixthly, to complete the list, these traditions 
have often been enforced by the sanction of cor- 
poral penalties ; in fact, the Roman Church is com- 
mitted to the extermination of heretics^ so called, 
in every way by which she could possibly so com- 
mit herself. If there is any truth in history, she 
will persecute whenever she can. Her very excom- 
munications, when they take effect in Papal com- 
munities, cut off the victim from his fellow-man. It for 
bids the faithful to associate with or employ, or have 
any dealings of any kind with him, or to extend him 
any charity. His alternative is to make peace with 
the Church, or starve. 

I will read you, for your instruction, a sentence of 
excommunication pronounced upon a refractory 
priest in Philadelphia, some )'ears ago, as it appeared 



Errors of the Papacy. 201 

in the newspapers. By the way, the Church of 
Rome claims to be the patron of the fine arts, and, 
I believe, justly so. I will do her justice, so far as 
I know ; and I believe it is true that she has en- 
couraged the arts somewhat munificently, and that 
even to the extent of interfering with the purity of 
worship. There is one of the fine arts, if it may be 
so denominated, which she has certainly carried to 
perfection. I mean the art of cursijig. In this de- 
partment she has left nothing to be desired. You 
shall have a specimen of her proficiency in the docu- 
ment I am about to read : 

" By the authority of God Almighty, the Father, Son and 
Holy Ghost, and the undefiled Virgin Mary, mother and 
patroness of our Saviour, and of all celestial virtues. Angels, 
Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Cherubims, and 
Seraphims; and of all the Holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and of all 
the Apostles and Evangelists, of the Holy Innocents, who, in 
the sight of the Holy Lamb, are found worthy to sing the new 
song of the Holy Martyrs and Holy Confessors, and of all the 
Holy Virgins, and of all Saints, together with the Holy Elect 
of God — may he, William Hogan, be damned. 

" We excommunicate and anathematize him, and from the 
threshold of the Holy Church of God Almighty, we sequester 
him, that he may be tormented, disposed, and be delivered 
over with Athan and Abiram, and with those who say unto 
the Lord ' Depart from us, for we desire none of thy ways ; ' 
as a fire is quenched with water, so let the light of him be put 
out forevermore, unless it shall repent him and make satisfac- 
tion. Amen ! 

'• May the Father who created man curse him ! May the 
Son who suffered for us, curse him I May the Holy Ghost, 
who suffered for us in baptism, curse him ! May the Holy 
Cross, which Christ for our salvation, triumphing over his ene- 
mies, ascended, curse him ! 

*' Mav the Holv and Eternal Virgin Mar\', mother of God, 



202 Lecture X. 

curse him ! May St. Michael, the Advocate of the Holy Souls, 
curse him ! May all the Angels, Principalities and Powers, and 
all Heavenly Armies, curse him ! 

" May the praiseworthy multitude of Patriarchs and Prophets 
curse him ! 

"May St. John the Precursor, and St. John the Baptist, and 
St. Peter, and St. Paul, and St. Andrew, and all other of 
Christ's Apostles together, curse him ! and the rest of our Dis- 
ciples and Evangelists, who by their preaching converted the 
universe ; and the holy and wonderful company of martyrs and 
confessors, who by their holy works are found pleasing to God 
Almighty. ]\Iay the holy choir of the holy Virgins, who for 
the honor of Christ have despised the things of the world, damn 
him ! May all the Saints from the beginning of the world to 
everlasting ages who are found to be beloved of God, danm 
him ! 

" May he be damned wherever he be, whether in the house, 
or in the stable, the garden, or the field, or the highway ; or in 
the woods, or in the waters, or in the Church ; may he be cursed 
in living and in dying ! 

" May he be cursed in eating and in drinking, in being hungry, 
in being thirsty, in fasting, in sleeping, in slumbering, and in 
sitting, in living, in working, in resting, and in blood-letting. 

" May he be cursed in all the faculties of his body. 

"May he be cursed inwardly and outwardly; may he be 
cursed in his brains, and in his vertex, in his temples, in his eye- 
brows, in his cheeks, in his jaw bones, in his nostrils, in his 
teeth and grinders, in his lips, in his throat, in his shoulders, 
in his arms, in his fingers. 

" May he be damned in his mouth, in his breasts, in his heart 
and purtenance, down to the very stomach ! May he be cursed 
in his reins, and in his groins ; in his thighs, in his genitals, and 
in his hips, and his knees, his legs and feet and toe nails ! 

"May he be cursed in all his joints, and articulation of the 
members ; from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, 
may there be no soundness. 

" May the Son of the Living God, with all the glory of His 
Majesty, curse him ! And may Heaven, with all the pov/ers 



Errors of the Papacy. 203 

that move therein, rise up against him, and curse and damn 
him, unless he repent and make satisfaction ! 
*' Ainen. So de it. Be it so. Amen." 

Romanists hold that their General Councils are 
infallible in questions oi faith and morals ; in other 
matters, we are told, they may err. At least they 
are the very highest autJwrity in the Church. I will 
give you an extract of a decree of the fourth Lateran 
Council, on the treatment of heretics : 

"We excommunicate and anathematize every heresy extoll- 
ing" itself ag-ainst this holy, orthodox, catholic faith, which we 
before expounded, condemning all hej^etics, by what names so- 
ever called. And being condemned, let them be left to the 
secular power, or to their balififs, to be punished by due anim- 
adversion. And let the secular powers be warned and in- 
duced, and, if need be, condemned by ecclesiastical censure, 
what offices soever they are in, that as they desire to be reputed 
and taken for believers, so they publicly take att oath for the 
defense of the faith ; that they will study in good earnest to 
exterminate to their utmost power, from the lands subject to 
their jurisdiction, all heretics denoted by the Church ; so that 
every one that is henceforth taken into any power, either spir- 
itual or temporal, shall be bound to conform to this chapter by 
his oath. * * * * But if the temporal lord, required and 
warned by the Church, shall neglect to purge his territory of 
this heretical filth, let him, by the Metropolitan and Compro- 
vincial Bishops, be tied by the bond of excommunication ; and 
if he scorn to satisfy within a year, let that be signified to the 
Pope, that he may denounce his vassals thenceforth absolved 
from his fidelity, and may expose his country to be seized by 
Catholics, who, exterminating the heretics, may possess it 
without any contradiction, and may keep it in the purity of faith, 
saving the right of the principal lord, so be it he himself put 
no obstacle hereto, nor oppose any impediment ; the same law, 
notwithstanding, being kept about them that have no principal 
lords!" 



204 Lecture X. 

Now, remember that this decree was enacted by 
an Assembly held by Romanists to be infallible in 
faith and morals. Are there no morals involved in 
this decree? A decree to destroy men's lives, and 
seize upon their property? Bishop England has 
tried to weaken the force of this decree by assuring 
the American public that it was a special decree for 
a very bad class of heretics, whose practices endan- 
gered the existence of society. This was an un- 
happy expedient of the Bishop, for the decree em- 
braces '' all heretics by what names soever called,'' 
and prescribes their extermination on the ground of 
their heresy, and not on the ground of customs sub- 
versive of society. It is a capital point with the ad- 
vocates of Romanism in this country to make the 
impression that their Church does not claim the 
right to persecute. They resort to ever^^ stratagem 
by which they may evade the meaning of the most 
unequivocal testimonies. But on this point I will 
give you an author greater than them all, the cele- 
brated Bellarmine, who flourished in the latter part 
of the sixteenth century. 

In his third book on the laity, chap. 21, he says, 
*' We will briefly show that the Church has the power, 
and it is her duty, to cast ofl" incorrigible heretics, 
especially those who have relapsed, and that the 
secular power ought to inflict on such temporal pun- 
ishments, and cve7i death itself, i. This may be 
proved from the Scriptures. 2. It is proved from 
the opinions and laws of the Emperors, which the 
Church has always approved. 3. It is proved by 
the laws of the Church. 4. It is proved by the tes- 
timony of the fathers. Lastly, it is proved from nai- 



Errors of the Papacy. 205 

ural reason. For first : it is owned by all that here- 
tics may of right be excommunicated — of course, 
they may be put to death. This consequence is 
proved because excommunication is a greater pun- 
ishment than temporal death. Secondly : experi- 
ence proves that there is no other remedy ; for the 
Church has step by step tried all remedies — first, ex- 
communication alone ; then pecuniary penalties ; 
afterwards banishment ; and, lastly, has been forced 
to put them to death, to send them to their own 
place. Thirdly : All allow that forgery deserves 
death ; but heretics are guilty of forgery of the 
w^ord of God. Fourthly : A breach of faith by man 
toward God is a greater sin than a wife w^ith her 
husband. But a woman's unfaithfulness is punished 
with death; w^hy not a heretic's? Fifthly: There 
are three grounds on which reason shows that here- 
tics should be put to death : the first is, lest the 
wicked should injure the righteous ; second, that by 
the punishment of a few many may be reformed, 
for many W'ho w^ere made torpid by impunity are 
roused by the fear of punishment ; and this we daily 
see is the result zvhere the Inquisition flourishes. Fi- 
nally, it is a benefit to obstinate heretics to remove 
them out of this life ; for the longer they live the 
more errors they invent, the more persons they mis- 
lead, and the greater damnation do they treasure 
up for themselves." So you see they kill heretics 
out of mercy to them ! I wonder if they have dis- 
covered that it is a charitable act to stretch a man 
on the rack of the Inquisition until his joints give 
way? Perhaps these penetrating Popish doctors 
may yet demonstrate to us that the thumb-screw is 



2o6 Lecture X. 

a charitable institution. In chap. 22 Bellarmine 
answers a statement of Luther, that the Church did 
not burn heretics. He declares that ''an almost in- 
finite number were either burned or otherwise put to 
death." 

I know that our fellow-citizens of the Roman 
Communion cultivate toward us " the kindly chari- 
ties of life," and would shudder at the thought of 
seeing us roasted for heresy. They don't think their 
Church would do such a thing. They do not know 
their Church 1 They have not read the bloody part 
of her history, the decrees of Councils, and the Bulls 
of Popes, on this subject. Eveiy effort is made by 
their teachers to discredit or explain away those 
tragic passages of histor)^' when they are brought to 
light. But truth is truth, and the rigJit to put Jiere- 
tics to death is as really a part of the Romish tradi- 
tional code as anything else is. That code is analo- 
gous to the common lazVy and by that fact it is cut off 
from the Rule of Faith forroer I For, as I ha\'e 
shown at large, religious faith is not analogous to 
municipal law, and the Rule of Faith cannot be 
compared with any form of that law. They are as 
wide apart as the human and the Divine. The ad- 
mitted analogy between tradition and common law 
is most fatal to the authority with which it is in- 
vested in the Roman Church. 

But we are told that Christ promised the Apostles 
that, after his ascension, he would come to them, 
and bring all things which he had said to them to 
their minds. So did he promise indeed, and what 
he promised he faithfully performed. He brought 
those things to their minds, and whatsoever is nee- 



Errors of the Papacy. 207 

essary for our instruction in righteousness, that we 
may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works, 
they have written in the Gospels and Epistles. But 
does not Christ promise to make his abode in his 
disciples? Yes! so long as they abide in him, AND 
NO LONGER. (See John xv, i-io.) But mark this, 
our Lord never promised to abide in d^wy particular 
organization until the end of time. NEVER ! Neith- 
er with that which began at Jerusalem, nor that at 
Ephesus, nor that at Rome, nor any other. I have 
shown in a former lecture that apostate Churches 
are cut off. With his people that believe on him, 
and keep his commandments, and love him, he re- 
sides. Their "■ bodies are temples of the Holy 
Ghost," and they are collectively the Church against 
which the gates of hell shall not prevail. The claim 
of Rome, that, on the ground of her continuous organ- 
ization from the time of the Apostles down, irrespect • 
ive of the wickedness of Popes, clergy and people, 
Christ is with her, is preposterous, and without the 
shadow of support from Scripture. She has no 
guaranty to give us of the preservation of pure tra- 
ditions, either from the Bible or the character of her 
own history. -^ 

But the apostle commands the Church, (2 Thess. 
ii, 15,) ''Hold the traditions which ye have been 
taught, whether by word or our epistle." And to 
Timothy he says : '' The things which thou hast 
heard of me among many witnesses, the same com- 
mit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach 
others also." (2 Tim. ii. 2.) From these texts it is 
argued that tradition, or the spoken word, is of equal 
authority with the ivritten word. That the word 



2o8 Lecture X. 

of an apostle has as much authority when spoken 
as when written, no one questions. But that makes 
nothing for tradition as now held. An argument 
from these texts in favor of tradition Jiow, puts a 
great deal into the conclusion that is not in the 
premises. It is in the premises that the unwritten 
word of the apostles, while the Church enjoyed 
their presence, and while they were constantly going 
from place to place as guardians of the truth, and 
while the canon of Scripture was still unfinished, 
and authoritative oral teaching was necessary to 
supply the deficiency, when committed to men of 
their own selection, or by themselves communicated 
to the Churches, was just as binding as if it had 
been written. You see the premises. The conclu- 
sion is that because the unwritten word of an apostle, 
communicated by his own lips, in his own lifetime, 
to persons of his own selection, was binding and 
authoritative, therefore tradition would always be 
binding ! O, what logic ! 

I object to the traditions of the Roman Church 
for several reasons, which I will proceed to state : 

I. I object on the general ground that oral trans- 
mission never was reliable, and never can be. Written 
documents, carefully copied and preserved from age 
to age, may be relied on. But when B reports what 
A told him, as lie understood it, and C gives a third 
version, as he understood it, and so on, we all know 
how soon it will get into a shape in which the first 
narrator never could recognize it at all. No, no, 
brethren, our FAITH was never committed to such 
custody as that ! 

II. I object to tradition, because the experiment 



Errors of the Papacy. 209 

was tried by the Jews, and was a failure. They 
were God's true Church. God promised to be with 
them : '' The Holy One of Israel in their midst." 
They held the same theory of tradition as the 
Romanists do. Moses, they said, had committed 
them orally to the elders, and they had been pre- 
served incorrupt in the succeeding ages. But when 
Christ came he upbraided the tradition mongers 
with most scathing irony. '' Full well do ye reject 
the commandment of God, that ye may keep your 
own tradition ! " Their traditions were directly 
subversive of the Scriptures. They '' made void the 
law." Such an experiment, made by God's true 
Church, with such results, ought to have forestalled 
tradition in the Christian Church forever. But no. 
Nothing would do, but Christians must repeat the 
impiety of their predecessors, even with the Sav- 
iour's terrible rebuke before their eyes. 

III. I charge directly, that the traditions of the 
Roman Church ^^ make void'' both the law and the 
gospel. Now ior tho: proof . Will you, my Romanist 
friend, examine it closely? 

I. It makes the one perfect sacrifice of Christ void. 
First hear the Scriptures on this subject, and then 
the Council of Trent. 

** And every priest standeth daily ministering and 
offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can 
never take away sins : But this man, after he had 
offered ONE SACRIFICE for sins, forever sat down on 
the right hand of God ; from henceforth expecting 
till his enemies be made his footstool. For by ONE 
OFFERING he hath perfected forever them that are 
sanctified." (Heb. x, 11, 14.) Here our Saviour's 



2IO Lecture X. 

perfect sacrifice is contrasted with the imperfect ones 
of the former dispensation. On account of their 
imperfection they were continually repeated. But 
the sacrifice of Christ, in xirtue of its perfection, is 
offered but oiice. By this all-perfect sacrifice, sins 
are remitted, and " there is no ))iorc offering for sin!' 
(v. iS.^i " By his own blood he entered once into 
the hoh' place, having obtained eternal redemption 
for us." (Heb. ix, 12.) He *' needeth not daily, as 
those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his 
own sins, and then for the people's, for this lie did 
ONCE when he offered up himself." (Heb. vii, 27.) 
So teaches the Scripture. The sacrifice of Christ 
was offered once^ and BUT ONCE, for all. Now, what 
is the Roman tradition on this subject ? 

The Council of Trent, on the Sacrifice of the 
Mass, Sess. 22, chap, ii, says that " Christ is offered 
by the ministry of priests, who then offered himself 
on the cross, the manner alone of oliering being 
different." Ag'ain, "this sacrifice is truly propitia- 
tory, and that, by means thereof, this is eftected that 
we obtain mere}'," etc. " For the Lord, appeased 
by the oblation thereof, and granting the grace and 
gift of repentance, forgives even heinous crimes and 
sins." And in chapter ix, same session, Canon I, 
** If any one saith that in the mass a true and proper 
sacrifice is not offered to God, or, that to be offered, 
is nothing else but that Christ is given us to eat, 
let him be anathema." 

The apostle says Christ is oftered once for all. 
The tradition teaches that he is offered repeatedly 
in the sacrifice of the Mass. The apostle says : 
** There is no more offering for sin." The tradition 



Errors of the Papacy. 211 

says here in the mass is an oblatiofi by which the 
Lord is appeased^ so that he '' forgives even heinous 
crimes and sins." According to the apostle, the 
sacrifice of the cross ^'' perfects forever them that are 
sanctified ;'' but, according to the tradition, "the 
supplementary sacrifices of the Mass are requisite !' 

2. It invades the office of Christ as sole Mediator, 
" There is one God, and one Mediator between God 
and men — the man Clirist Jesus." The Council of 
Trent, Sess. 25, teaches that the saints pray for men, 
and that the '^ invocation of them to pray for each 
of us in particular " is right, and that to deny it is 
to " think impiously." Thus it offers us innumer- 
able '^ advocates," and turns the mind from the great 
Advocate appointed by the Father. Thus the doc- 
trines of sacrifice and intercession, being corrupted 
by tradition, it makes the gospel void. 

3. The law of the gospel enacts specifically that 
ministers of Christ may be married men, which 
specific provision is nullified by the Roman law of 
celibacy. 

4. The tradition of this Church repeals the first 
and second commandments of the Decalogue. 

Of the saints, the Council of Trent, Sess. 25, de- 
crees '' that it is good and useful siippliantly to in- 
voke them ! " Does not this make gods of them ? 
See decree '' on the Invocation, Veneration, and 
Relics of Saints, and on Sacred Images." It also 
ordains that " the images of Christ, of the Virgin 
Mother of God, and of the other saints, are to be 
had and retained, particularly in the temples, and 
that due honor and veneration are to be eiven 

them." You will tell me that this honor and ven- 
14 



212 Lecture X. 

eration do not amount to worship, and, therefore, 
no fault can be found with it. But further on, in 
the same paragraph, those Trent Fathers speak of 
them as " the images which we kiss, and before 
which we uncover the head, and prostrate ourselves'' 
The second commandment solemxnly forbids men to 
bow themselves down to any image or likeness of any 
thing in the universe. '' Prostrate ourselves " 
before images ! '' Thou shalt not BOW IHYSELF 
DOWN to themy Here we might leave the Council 
of Trent contradicting God before Sinai, but there 
is an insanely sacrilegious sequel. In the Catechism 
of the Council of Trent, the second commandment, 
which is the longest of the ten, is attached to the first, 
and the first four words of it only given, with an etc. 
*' The Most Rev. Dr. James Butler's Catechism " 
was published in Dublin, Ireland, in 1826, with the 
imprint of Richard Coyne, ** Bookseller and Printer 
to the R. C. College of St. Patrick and Maynooth, 
and Publisher to the Catholic Bishops of Ireland." 
This Catechism omits the second commandment 
entirely. Another Catechism was published in Dub- 
lin by the same printer, under the auspices of Bishop 
Doyle, in 1827, in which a small portion of the 
second commandment was corrupted — actually 
CHANGED — and attached to the first. It is thus 
given : " Thou shalt not make to thyself neither an 
idol or any figure, to adore itT Why was '* idol " 
substituted for '' image," and '' adore " for '' bow 
down ? " The tradition had made void the law, and 
it was expedient to keep the law out of sight. Not 
many of the people there had the Bible. I believe 
there has been one Catechism published in this 



Errors of the Papacy. 213 

country In which the same liberty was taken with 
this second commandment. These abridged Deca- 
logues make two commandments of the tenth, to 
complete the number. You will be referred to the 
Catechisms in common use in this country as con- 
taining the second commandment. It would be 
death to omit it here. It would occasion scandal. 
Where they can do it with impunity, it is done. They 
" REJECT the commandment of God, that they may 
keep their own tradition.'' It is not mine to say, 
*' Let them be anathema " — God has charge of that 
department himself. In due time he will avenge 
his dishonored law. 

5. I have already given you some specimens from 
the great casuist, Liguori, whose writings on moral 
theology are held in such high estimation among 
Romanists. You will remember that, acco/ding to 
this Saint ^ (?) custom justifies gaming and Sabbath- 
breaking. Here is another passage from him : '^ A 
Bishop, however poor he may be, cannot appropri- 
ate to himself pecuniary fines without the license of 
the Apostolic See. But he ought to apply them to 
pious uses. Much less can he apply those fines to 
any thing else but pious uses, which the Council of 
Trent has laid upon non-resident clergymen, or up- 
on those clergymen who keep concubines, as is evi- 
dent from many arguments of the Holy Congrega- 
tion in the treatise respecting Diocesan Synods." 
In fact, it is held by Romish theologians to be a 
greater crime in one under a vow of chastity to 
marry than to commit adultery : because, in the lat- 
ter case, he may reform, but in the former he cannot. 

I will give you one more passage from our dis- 



214 Lecture X. 

tinguished saint, partly for your instruction, and 
partly, also, for your entertainment. " Is it a mor- 
tal sin to steal a small piece of a sacred relic ? Ans. 
There is no doubt " — I can imagine that I see the 
saint writing this — he looks oracular — very — '' there 
is no doubt but in the district of Rome, it is a mor- 
tal sin. But out of this district, if any one steal a 
small piece of a relic, // is probable that it is no 
mortal sin, provided the relic be not thereby dis- 
graced, nor its value lessened ; unless it be some 
notable or rare relic, such, for instance, as the Holy 
Cross or the hair of the Blessed Virgin Mary." How 
the pure morality of the gospel is set aside by such 
teachers of tradition needs no explanation. 

6. The traditions of Rome make Christian minis- 
ters priests, instead of preachers. Hughes, in his 
debate -with Breckinridge, acknowledges this. He 
says : " It is true that ' to offer sacrifice ' is the chief 
official business of the priest." Now, as I showed 
you in one of my lectures on transubstantiation, the 
true minister of Christ is 2i preacher, and not a priest 
at all. Nothing can be clearer from the New Test- 
ament than this. This tradition involves a radical 
perversion of the ministerial office. 

I have given you but a specimen, yet enough to 
show you how these traditions of Rome make both 
the lazv and gospel void. Into such fatal excesses of 
misbelief does the human mind run when it once 
breaks loose from its moorings in the written Word. 
The main pillars of the faith must give way before 
its headloncr wavwardness. The death of Christ 
must come down to the level of Jewish sacrifices, 
and he must be offered, as thev were, dailv. It even 



Errors op^ the Papacy. 215 

banters the God of Sinai, and tramples on a com- 
mandment of the first table. There is no altar too 
sacred for it to violate ; no throne whose sov- 
ereignty it will not challenge. Ye priests of a false 
altar, " full well do ye reject the commandment of 
God, that ye may keep your own tradition ! " 

The defenders of Romanism confound two per- 
fectly distinct things — tradition and oral teaching. 
They insinuate that, if tradition be relinquished, the 
world must be converted by reading the Bible. This 
is neither affirmed by us, nor is it a logical conse- 
quence of our position. The Bible is the only Rule 
of Faith. The preacher is to get his doctrines there ^ 
and his hearers are to test his teachings by that 
standard. They may not be profound theologians, 
yet, if their preacher tells them that Christ is offered 
daily, they go to the unerring record of saving 
truth, and learn that he was offered once for all. 
The correction of erroneous teaching is at hand. 
Hoary tradition presents an image in his withered 
hand, and says : '' Prostrate yourselves." But God, 
in their Bibles, speaks to them from the mountain 
w^hich is altogether on flame, and says : " Thou shalt 
not bow down thyself to them ;" and they are saved 
from idolatry. And with the world full of Bibles 
there is yet work enough for the preacher. He 
conveys the word from the Bible to those who will 
not read. He encourages the faith, arouses the con- 
science, and aids the understanding of those who do. 
From a soul on fire with truth and love he utters 
God's messages of warning and of peace. He is 
God's ambassador, with full written instructions to 
negotiate the treaty of reconciliation with his ene- 



2i6 Lecture X. 

mies. The Bible is the conservator of truth — the 
minister is its herald. He is also a pastor, to feed the 
flock of God, with food laid up in the store-house of 
the Word by the Chief Shepherd, to whom he is ac- 
countable. He is to " study to show himself ap- 
proved of God — a workman that needeth not to be 
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.'' 

The preacher has great advantage of the priest. 
The priest's Rule of Faith is partly in the Bible, 
partly in the voluminous records of many Councils, 
and partly, peradventure, floating yet in undefined 
and intangible tradition ; for there is no telling 
whether all the traditions have been enacted into 
decrees and canons, even yet. Th.Q preacher has his 
Bible, which is '^ able to make him wise unto salva- 
tion." Thank God, we can dispense with the hete- 
rogeneous lumber of traditions and the Councils. 
God's inspired Apostle assures us that the Script- 
ures are able to make us wise tinto salvation. How 
can tradition help us, then ? By them the man of 
God is "' thoroughly furnished unto all good 
works." Officious tradition proffers help where 
none is needed. 

Preaching is one of the most distinguishing feat- 
ures of Protestantism. The Bible and the Pulpit 
were restored to the world simultaneously. They 
belong to each other. The Bible and the Pulpit ! 
This is Protestantism. Tradition and the Altar ! 
This is Papacy. Tradition that fights with God's 
Word, and an Altar that displaces Christ ! Give us 
the Bible and the Pulpit ; the Word, read a?id ex~ 
pomided I '* Preach the Gospel," not tradition; 
the gospel of the Cross, not of the Mass. 



Errors of the Papacy. 217 



LECTURE XL 

THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE INTERPRETATION . 

" I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran ; I have not spoken 
to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, 
and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have 
turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings." 
— Jer. xxiii, 21, 22. 

WE are compelled to witness, now and then, a 
spectacle, in this country, at which, I am sure, 
angels might blush. Men professing to be ministers 
of Christ, and to speak by authority for the Church — 
men of large education and good talents — exten- 
sively read in theology and skilled in dialectics — 
exhaust their ingenuity to make it appear that the 
Bible, considered in itself, is a book without author- 
ity. They enter into details to show difficulties in 
the way of the New Testament Scriptures. They 
repeat and urge such sophistries as the skeptic de- 
lights in, to cast doubts upon various portions of 
that book. It seems to afford them great satisfac- 
tion to find any fact, or discover any hypothesis, 
which may be placed in an attitude that will militate 
against the evidence of its authenticity and divine 
authority. This seems to be their settled policy. 
Again and again has this attack been made, by the 
Romish clergy of our country, upon the blessed 
Bible. No doubt the infidel looks on and chuckles. 
He must hail them as fellow-laborers in his gloomy 



2i8 Lecture XI. 

work. He can extend to them the right hand of a 
warm and hearty fellowship. 

The avowed object of all this is to glorify the 
Church. The Bible is to be received, indeed ; but 
it must be on the authority of the Church. She gives 
the Holy Scriptures their authority. They are di- 
vine, but we can know it only because the Church 
says so. What she proposes as Scripture is Script- 
urCj and it is to be received because she so pro- 
poses it. 

Let us believe that these traducers of the Book 
of God do not desire to destroy its credit. Their 
object, doubtless, is to elevate the Church ; an ob- 
ject so dear to them, that a disparagement of the 
Bible for its promotion, is a praiseworthy work. 
Are we to understand that the just claims of the 
Church require such a sacrifice? 

To augment her credit, Rome maintains the fol- 
lowing propositions: 

L That the Bible can be received as a revelation 
from God only upon her authority. 

n. When received it can be understood only by 
her interpretation. 

The first of these propositions she maintains, 
I. By the assumption that she alone can determine 
the canonicity of the various books that claim a 
place in the sacred volume. In the early ages of 
the Church there were a good many productions 
for which inspiration was claimed, which have not 
been allowed a place in the Scriptures. The Ro- 
manists insist that they alone have the right to de- 
cide for or against these various books ; that when 
they put upon a gospel or an epistle the seal of 



Errors of the Papacy. 219 

canonicity it is to be received for that reason. 
Now, my friends, the canonicity of any given book 
is simply a question of fact^ to be determined by 
undoubted historical testimony. I have not time 
now to enter at large upon this subject. I hope to 
be able, after a while, to deliver a few lectures upon 
this and kindred topics. A very brief presentation 
will be sufficient, however, for my present purpose. 
In the meantime I refer you to the books which 
treat at length upon this important question. It is 
enough to say now that those books which were 
written, or indorsed, by the apostles^ and none others, 
(in the New Testament canon,) have the stamp of 
Divine approval. In the early ages of the Church 
it was an easy matter to ascertain the facts in refer- 
ence to each separate book. Concurrent history 
makes the matter plain to those who choose to 
enter upon the investigation now. Besides, there 
are inevitable brands upon every spurious production 
that mark it for certain reprobation. Such produc- 
tions did appear in the early times of Christianity, 
but they enjoyed a very ephemeral reputation, and 
that not merely because the Church in any official 
way condemned them, but because they were 
clearly shown not to have the seal of apostol- 
ical authority. It is the business of Christians 
not to give this or that book authority. It is 
simply to determine the historical question of 
its origin. The practical difficulties of this question 
scarcely amount to any thing. Christ promised to 
come to the apostles, and bring to their minds all 
things that he had said to them. He that heareth 
the apostles is of God, and he that heareth them 



220 Ll'XTURE XI. 

not is not of God. So one of themselves affirms. 
(i John iv, 6.) This puts the matter at rest. The 
authority of the New Testament Scriptures is found 
in the apostles, and not in the indorsement of the 
Church in any subsequent age. History, and the 
internal evidence of the various books, are decisive 
on the question of their origin. That determined, 
and the matter is at rest. 

2. That the Bible is received on the authorit}* oi 
the Roman Church is further maintained by the 
assumption that to her we owe the uncorrupted 
preservation of the Scriptures. This assumption I 
don\', and will give you the proof. 

1. There are manuscripts of the Scriptures in the 
original languages that come to us from a remote 
antiquit)-. The Codex Alexandrinus comes to us not 
from the Roman Church. It was sent to Charles I. 
of England b\' the Patriarch oi Constantinople, and 
is preserved in the British Museum, The Codex 
Vaticanus is preserved at Rome, and Home says 
that '* it contests the palm of antiquit}- with the 
Alexandrian manuscript." These two arc the most 
ancient of the manuscripts extant, and are believed 
to date from the fourth century. 

2. Translations of the Scriptures were made \ cry 
early, especially into the Syrian language. 

3. Copies of them were widely disseminated. The 
Syrian, the Armenian, and the Creek Christians had 
them, as well as those large bodies of dissenters 
from the Church of Rome that existed from time 
to time. All these copies of the Bible in vari- 
ous nations make any serious corruption of the sa- 
cred text impossible. God himself watches that 



Errors of the Papacy. 221 

Book. The Church of Rome arrogates too much. 
It is true, indeed, that many of her monks, In the 
early ages, were employed in transcribing the Sacred 
Writings, and that they performed their task with 
scrupulous care. I would not detract an iota from 
the meed of praise which is their due. But when 
they desire to monopolize the credit of preserving 
the Scriptures pure, they presume upon our credul- 
ity. Facts are against them. They did their part, 
and did it well. But if Rome had been disposed to 
corrupt the Bible, she never had it in her power. 
The attempt would have exposed her to the derision 
of the world. A thousand authentic copies would 
have confronted her from almost every land, as swift 
witnesses of the sacrilege. 

But I have two grave charges to make against the 
Church of Rome, in reference to the preservation of 
the Scriptures. The first is, that she has superseded 
the original Scriptures by a translation ; and the 
second, that she has incorporated uninspired books 
into her canon. 

The Council of Trent, Ses. iv., in the " Decree 
concerning the Canonical Scriptures," enumerates 
the Apocryphal books by name, with the others, and 
then proceeds: " But if any one receive not, as sa- 
cred and canonical, t/ie said books entire^ with all 
their parts, as they have been used to be read in the 
Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the 
old Latin Vulgate edition^ and knowingly and delib- 
erately contemn the traditions aforesaid, let him be 
anathema." Thus fulminates '' the Church." And 
further, in the same session, in the " Decree con- 
cerning the edition, and the use, of the Sacred 



222 Lecture XL 

Books," the Council holds this language : " More- 
over, the same sacred and holy Synod — considering 
that no small utiHty may accrue to the Church of 
God, if it be made known which, out of all the Lat- 
in editions, now in circulation, of the Sacred Books, 
is to be held as authentic — ordains and declares that 
the said old and Vulgate edition, which, by the 
lengthened usage of so many ages, has been approved 
of in the Church, be, in public lectures, disputations, 
sermons and expositions, held as authentic ; and 
that no one is to dare or presume to reject it under 
any pretext whatever." The Vulgate is thus the 
standard and unappealable text in that Church. 
The original Hebrew and Greek are displaced. Any 
novice knows that the ultimate appeal, in any case 
involving doubt, must be to the language in which a 
book was first written. Translations may be very ac- 
curate, no doubt, but we must always have the original 
accessible to scholars. This is essential as a guard 
against the encroachments of error. We must have 
translations for common use ; but the immutable 
original must be at hand. It must stand as an un- 
changeable witness, for or against any translation. 
This preference of a translation speaks volumes 
against the Church as the preserver of the Bible. 

The Council further ordered that '' the said old 
and Vulgate edition be printed in the most correct 
manner possibly." In pursuance of this order, 
Pope Sixtus V had an edition issued upon which he 
fixed his infallible seal, anathematizing any one who 
should make any alteration in it. In the face of 
this, Clement VIII, his successor in the supremacy, 
ordered it to be suppressed, on account of its num- 



Errors of the Papacy. 223 

erous errors. Another edition was produced under 
infallible auspices, in which there were two thousand 
corrections of the former. 

It is a significant fact that the Church, which is 
the guardian of the Scriptures, did not know what 
edition was infallible until the sitting of the Council 
of Trent. Who can tell how many errors may have 
been bred before that time by bad versions ? A 
question for an infallible Church to consider. 

As you have observed, the Council, in the same 
decree, ordained the canonicity of the Apocryphal 
books. There is no dispute in reference to the New 
Testament. Protestants and Romanists agree as to 
that. But the latter have added quite a number of 
books to the Old Testament. In doing so they have 
fixed upon themselves the infinite reproach of cor- 
rupting the word of God. The fact is patent to 
every one that examines the subject, that those 
books have no claim whatever to canonicity. 

For, first, they do not claim inspiration. On the 
contrary, some of them expressly disavow it. This 
is true of the writer of the Maccabees. He apolo- 
gizes for such imperfections as might be found in his 
book. If it was done meanly and slenderly, he says 
it was the best he could attain unto. Secondly, 
they record many absurdities, not to say impieties. 
Rezias is commended for killing himself. Antio- 
chus is made to die three times ; first in Babylon, in 
his bed, and then by violence in the temple of Nan- 
ca, and yet again by a fall from his chariot in the 
mountains. Thirdly, these books are never quoted 
by Christ and the Apostles, although they refer, in 
cases almost innumerable, to the Old Testament 



224 Lecture XL 

Scriptures. The fact is conclusive. Can it be be- 
lieved that they would have overlooked those writ- 
ings so completely, if they had been inspired ? 
Fourthly, the Jews did not receive them. To 
them, the Apostle says, were committed the oracles 
of God. And they received those books, and only 
those, which the Protestant Churches recognize. 
And, finally, the Councils of Laodicea and Carthage 
left out the apocryphal books, and the chief writers 
of the early Church reject them. Pope Gregory 
said, *' Though the Maccabees be read for edifica- 
tion, yet are they not canonical." And we are told 
that Melito, Bishop of Sardis, visited the Churches 
where the apostles preached most, his principal ob- 
ject being to ascertain the true canon of Scripture. 
He found them with the very same canon that 
Protestants allow. The Apocrypha ''was not found 
in their canon." What an overwhelming mass of 
testimony is here against those books ! And yet the 
Ecumenical Council of Trent curses every one who 
will not receive them. 

Can you guess why? No. Then I think I can 
enlighten you. ''The Church " held certain dogmas 
that she was in great need of Scripture to support ; 
such, for instance, as praying for the dead, purgatory, 
and such like. The Bible was silent. It had not 
one word in proof of those dogmas. Protestants 
assailed them with killing effect. And in their dire 
extremity they betook them to the Apocrypha. It 
was a desperate venture, but there was no other 
})ope. There was, indeed, some sign of prayer for 
the dead in the Maccabees, and to reap the benefit 
of it the Council must enlarge the canon by this 



Errors of the Papacy. 225 

addition. And these are the preservers of the pure 
Word of God ! They scrape up the fugitive htera- 
ture of the Jews, which the Jews themselves set no 
higher value on than as the literature of their coun- 
try, and make good Scripture of it. Do you not 
believe that at that time, if the Church of Rome had 
had exclusive possession of the Bible, she would 
have changed it so as to make it teach her dogmas ? 
It is notorious that she did expurgate the writings 
of some of the Fathers. That was bad enough. It 
was wicked. And not having it in her power to 
expurgate the Scriptures, she dared to add to them, 
thus vitally corrupting her canon ? What will not 
Rome do to support her heresies ? Thank God, we 
are not dependent upon her iorth.^ Bible. We have 
the unadulterated word of truth, with abundant 
means of verifying it. And if Rome will curse us 
for rejecting her false trumpery, she must be in- 
dulged in the full enjoyment of that pleasure. '^ Let 
her curse on." She delights in cursing. Her '* vio- 
lent dealing shall return upon her own pate." 

How preposterous is the boast of Rome, that the 
Scriptures owe their authority to her indorsement ! 
Even if she were the true Church of God, that boast 
would amount only to the air that should make it 
articulate, or the ink that should write it. Does the 
Church authenticate the Scriptures, or the Script- 
ures the Church? There must be a starting-point. 
It will not answer for John to swear for Peter, and 
Peter in his turn for John. One of them must be 
an accredited witness first, and then he may appear 
for the other. In the very nature of the case, the 
Church must appeal to the Bible as her witness. 



226 Lecture XL 

It is suicidal, then, for her to turn round and say 
that the witness is credible only because she in- 
dorses it. Of course, she would indorse a witness 
that would depose in her favor. But she must have 
an independent witness, one that bears not her 
testimony, but its own. To keep the Church and 
the Bible whirling round and round in a vicious 
circle, one after the other, is to destroy them both. 
This is just what the theory of Rome does. 

Now, take the other view. The Bible is God's 
revelation to man. Its authority is from Him. Its 
attestation is in miracles, and prophecy, and history, 
in the divine purity of its doctrines, and their effect 
on human life and character. These are disinter- 
ested witnesses — witnesses that commend them- 
selves to every man's judgment, that satisfy our rea- 
son. They are witnesses that can't be bribed nor 
influenced. They have nothing at stake, and it is 
not in human nature to discredit them. The truth 
of the Bible thus attested, its Divine authority is at 
once recognized, and it becomes God's witness for 
the Church. The Church appeals to it with con- 
fidence. And with all the authority with which it 
testifies for the true Church, it speaks against those 
that are false. 

It is very well for that Church which teaches pur- 
gatory, and auricular confession, and the mass, as 
vital doctrines of religion, to give it out that the 
Bible owes its authority to her. If she could im- 
part authority to the Bible, then why not to tradi- 
tion, or any thing else ? The field is open, and it is 
wide. She can make what doctrine she pleases. 
And she has a great penchant for making dogmas. 



Errors of the Papacy. 227 

It was necessary to put the Book of God in a po- 
sition where its silence would be no bar to new 
creeds, and where even its contradiction might be 
manageable. Its authority must come from the 
Church, and so also must its authentic interpreta- 
tion. The Bible in duress, she can do what she 
pleases. And for fear it might, even under this re- 
straint, be a swift witness against her, it is held 
under still more powerful guards. The laity may 
read translations of the Bible made by Catholic 
authors, only by the permission of a Bishop or in- 
quisitor in writing. And '^ if any one shall have the 
presumption to read or possess it without such writ- 
ten permission, he shall not receive absolution until 
he have first delivered up such Bible to the Ordi- 
nary." So says the Council of Trent. Even the 
*' Regulars shall neither read nor purchase such 
Bibles without a special license from their superiors." 
When " the Church " commits a great crime against 
God and truth, it is sure to be under some very 
pious pretext. In this case it is pretended that the 
Scriptures are too holy for common hands — on the 
principle, I suppose, that pearls are not to be cast 
before szvine. 

All this comes of the assumed dominion of the 
Church over the Word of God, certainly one of the 
most daring and impious assumptions that men 
ever made. 

I have said that the Bible must first be shown to 

have come from God, and that then it becorries an 

effectual witness for the Church. And the proofs of 

its Divine origin are accessible to all. They are 

various, and are adapted to all grades 6f intellect, 
15 



2^8 Lecture XI. 

and to all classes of men. To such as enjoy the req- 
uisite cultivation and leisure, there is a large field of 
critical research open for exploration. To a certain 
class of minds this species of proof is necessary. 
The overwhelming testimonies of history and 
prophecy are within the reach of men in the ordi- 
nary avocations of life. But, perhaps, the most cer- 
tain assurance comes from the Book itself. And 
this is adapted to all, from the rudest to the most 
cultivated. I knew an intelligent lady once who had 
been tempted strongly to skepticism ; but in read- 
ing the Bible she never could rid herself of the con- 
viction that it was more than a mere human 
production. She was there confronted with an in- 
telligence that penetrated her deepest soul. It 
seemed that the great eye of God was gazing upon 
her as she turned the pages, and that the covert 
depths of thought and motive and feeling were laid 
bare before it. That one fact had saved her from 
infidelity. She is now a member of the Presbyterian 
Church. 

There is in this city a gentleman, of extensive 
reading and acute mind, who assured me that he 
had been disposed to skepticism for many years. 
He determined at last to put the question at rest. 
It was too grave a matter to trifle with. It occurred 
io him that if Christanity were true, its authentic 
writings must contain within themselves convincing 
proof of their truth. He immediately read the New 
Testament through from beginning to end. A sec- 
end reading, more careful than the first, presented 
Jesus of Nazareth to his mind so perfectly delineat- 
ed that there was no denying him. At every step 



Errors of the Papacy. 229 

of his progress through the gospel the conviction 
became more and more distinct, that the character 
of the narrative was no mere man, until at last there 
was no doubt left. Here was a Divine character 
presented in four narratives, which never, in any 
case, came down from the exalted level upon which 
the narrators at first placed him. The argument 
stood thus : No man could have assumed that 
Divine elevation, and maintained it throughout, as 
Jesus did. Or, upon the hypothesis that the story 
was a fiction, no inan could have conceived a Divine 
character perfect as this is ; nor could he, by any 
possibility, have sustained it throughout so long a 
narrative. But here four writers, in various styles, 
present the same person, in the various stages of 
life, with many minute incidents, such as exhibit in- 
herent character, and in such emergencies as most 
effetually test character, and in every case he always 
appears the Divine man. It is not in man to enact 
such a character in real life, nor to produce such a 
hero in fictitious narrative. There is no remaining 
alternative. Jesus of Nazareth is the SON OF GOD. 
Reading a little further, in the Acts of the Apostles, 
he came to the place where Paul and Barnabus 
quarreled. *' Ah ! " said my friend, '^ here is some- 
thing human at last." But yet the doctrine of the 
whole Book was Divinely pure, and perfectly adapt- 
ed to the felt wants of the soul. The Book itself 
conquered him. 

A gentleman who had been on terms of personal 
friendship with the great Agassiz gave me the fol- 
lowing fact. Agassiz formed one of a small cir- 
cle of literary guests at a dinner at his house. It 



230 Lecture XI. 

was a company of skeptics. The conversation 
turned upon the subject of rehgion, which was 
treated derisively, and with raillery. Each one had 
his own jest, except Agassiz. He was silent, and 
seemed thoughtful. At last there was a lull, and 
all seemed waiting for him to speak. At last, with 
most impressive seriousness of expression, he said : 
*' Gentlemen, I once thought and spoke as you do 
now ; but I have read the Bible^ and I know that it 
is true. If you ask me how I know it, perhaps the 
best reason I can give is (laying his hand upon his 
breast), I feel it to be true.'' It is its own witness. 
Let a man be candid, and read the Bible. Scarce 
one in a thousand will require further testimony. 

The rich man in hell besought Abraham that 
Lazarus might be sent to warn his brothers who 
were yet living, that they might not follow him into 
that place of torment. '' They have Moses and the 
prophets," replied Abraham, '* let them hear them." 
But he urged that if one should come to them from 
the dead they would certainly believe. Abraham 
assured him that '' if they would not hear Moses 
and the prophets, neither would they be persuaded 
though one should rise from the dead." Now, we 
have Moses and the prophets, Christ and the apos- 
tles. He must be incorrigible, indeed, who will not 
be convinced by them all. 

Your own consciousness tells you that faith in 
the Word of God does not depend upon the 
Church. Important accessory influences are to be 
found in the Church, no doubt, but it does not fur- 
nish the primary grotind of faith. 

n. The Church of Rome contends that she alone 



Errors of the Papacy. 231 

has the right to interpret the Scriptures. So that it 
is not only upon her authority that the Bible is to 
be received, but from the same source, also, that the 
sense of it is to be learned. The Council of Trent 
decrees (Ses. iv.), '' That no one, relying on his 
own skill, shall, in matters of faith and of morals, 
pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine, 
wresting the sacred Scripture to his own senses, pre- 
sume to interpret the said sacred Scripture contrary 
to that sense which holy mother Church, whose it is 
to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the 
holy Scriptures, hath held and doth hold." I have 
already shown you what restraint the Council has 
placed on the reading of the Scriptures by the laity. 
The whole effort is to keep the Bible in the back- 
ground, and advance '* the Church." If*' holy moth- 
er " can convince her children that they owe the Bible 
to her, and are to receive its meaning upon her dicta- 
tion, then she has them fully enslaved, and will be 
able to carry matters with a high hand — as, indeed, 
she does. To accomplish this object her advocates 
sedulously insist, 

1. That the Bible is a book of mystery; that its 
doctrines are obscurely given, and hard to under- 
stand ; and, 

2. That the people can never be sure that they 
have a correct translation of the original text. On 
these grounds, we are told over and over again that 
great learning is requisite to the correct understand- 
ing of that book. And not great learning alone, 
but leisure, also ; that careful research, and a vast 
amount of it, and that nothing short of this, will 
suffice. And even with all these advantages, that 



232 Lecture XI. 

a long lifetime may be exhausted ere the work is 
complete. Now, if the object is to make finished 
theologians, all that is true and pertinent. But is 
this necessary to salvation ? Do the priests say this ? 
Then, indeed, are there " few that be saved," in 
Rome or out of it. So far as the mysteries are con- 
cerned, they appertain to questions, the understand- 
ing of which is not essential to personal piety. 
The great saving truths of religion are plainly taught 
in the Bible. But it seems the settled policy of the 
Romish priests to disparage the Bible in this respect. 
In the debate between Hughes and Breckinridge, 
the former stoutly maintained that his opponent 
could neither prove the doctrine of the Trinity nor 
that of the divinity of Christ from the Scriptures. 
What ! are ye ready to despoil the chief pillars of 
Christian doctrine of their inspired foundation, to 
exalt yourselves as teachers in a Church that has 
authority to settle questions which the Bible makes 
dubious? Will ye fight the battles of the infidel 
for him, that ye may gather a little spoil or a little 
consequence? 

Come, moderate your presumption sufficiently to 
hear the oracles of God speak : " There are three 
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, 
and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are one." Is 
not the Trinity there ? ^' In the beginning was the 
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word 
was God." '' And the Word was made flesh, and 
dwelt among us." Is not the divinity of Christ 
there ? It does really seem that these men are 
ready to join any one in a crusade against the plain- 
est Scriptures to accomplish their purpose. There 



Errors of the Papacy. 233 

can scarcely be found a class of men at whose hand 
the Bible has suffered greater wrong than it has re- 
ceived from the clergy of the Church of Rome. 

It is not the people with whom the use of the 
Bible is dangerous. Bellarmine said : " There is 
sure to be some doctor at the head of a schism." The 
word heresy might well be substituted for schism. 
The remark would be equally true. Who was Arius ? 
One of the most polished and skillful theologians of 
his age. He is the type and representative of here- 
siarchs. Learning does not secure a man against 
error. Indeed, the further a man pushes his investiga- 
tions, the more opportunities he has to diverge from 
the line of truth ; and, possibly, the more tempta- 
tions, too. Simple-heartedness and candor are the 
best safeguards against error. " If any man will 
do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." The 
Bible has made many a rustic wise unto salvation ; 
while his neighbor, worldly wise and boastful, has 
fallen into the most destructive misbelief. 

Well do I recollect a member of my charge in 
Hannibal, when I was stationed there. She was a 
poor woman, the wife of a hatter; and her educa- 
tion was so limited that she could read but with 
difficulty. During the first year of my pastorate 
there I knew her but slightly, and saw nothing 
striking or peculiar in her character. But she be- 
came a victim of pulmonary disease, and in her 
sickness I visited her more frequently. I was 
astonished at the breadth and beauty of her views in 
respect to religion. I never heard from any other 
person so great a variety of touching expressions of 
faith and submission, and of joy in God, in spite of 



234 Lecture XI. 

sufTering. And it all came of a clear, distinct appre- 
hension of the truths of the Gospel. What was 
most remarkable was that she interwove so many 
citations of Scripture in her conversations. I asked 
her how she came to be so familiar with the Word of 
God. She told me it had long been the practice of 
her husband to read the Scriptures aloud in the 
evenings and on the Sabbaths, and that while he read 
he would often pause, and they would strive to- 
gether to understand the Holy Word. Their con- 
versations were chiefly of this sort. Then, in her 
last long illness, what a store of precious truth she 
had laid up to feast on ! 

Take not the Bible from me and mine, when we 
are appointed to suffering and to death. May we 
pillow our heads upon its promises, and commune 
in spirit with its Author. May '^ the words which 
the Holy Ghost teacheth " shed their light along 
our gloomy pathway then. 

Nothing can be more evident than that the Bible 
is for the people, and not exclusively for theologians 
and doctors of divinity. Its very language is suffi- 
cient proof of this. It addresses directly all classes 
of persons. " Husbands, love your wives." " Wives, 
submit yourselves to your own husbands." '' Fa- 
thers, love your children." '* Children, obey your 
parents in the Lord." " Servants, be obedient to 
your masters." Masters, remember, " ye also have 
a master in Heaven." '' Submit yourselves to eveiy 
ordinance of man for the Lord's sake." Is this 
a book to be kept in the hands of priests ? No ! 
God speaks directly to the people. He designates 
them by their relations. ^' I write unto jyoti, little chil- 



Errors of the Papacy. 235 

dren — to yoti, young men — to you, fathers/' said 
the beloved disciple. '' To yoit' — not to ecclesias- 
tics for you. ** Ho, every one that thirsteth, come 
ye to the waters." Are these hortatory Scriptures, 
these urgent divine solicitations, directed as they are 
to " every one," appropriate to a mere text-book for 
theological students, or ecumenical councils? No! 
They speak to the heart, and are God's own exhorta- 
tions to mankind. " Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
" Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast 
out." '' Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be 
comforted." God comes right down to us, and talks 
with us on the level of our understanding and our 
wants. There is the most perfect and beautiful 
adaptation of sentiment and language to our con- 
dition. Hear how the great Father soothes his chil- 
dren in their helplessness and mortality. '' Like as 
a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
them that fear him." '' For he knoweth our frame, 
he remembereth that we are dust." What was that 
noble argument of the Apostle in favor of the resur- 
rection interspersed with so many touching allu- 
sions for? Why the sublime pathos of the perora- 
tion ? For the benefit of divinity students, to relieve 
the dryness of investigation ? To whom does the 
parable of '' the sower that went forth to sow " his 
seed convey its instruction most impressively? 
the man in the cloister, or the man in the field? 
Or that of the fishes, good and bad, that were 
brought together in the net, to the shore, and there 
assorted — for whose instruction was it intended ? 
For whose warning was the fruitless prayer of a man 



236 Lecture XL 

in his final torment, only for the tip of a moistened 
finger to cool his tongue, recorded ? Then there 
are the parables of the prodigal son, and the lost 
piece of silver, and the lost sheep there are the de- 
votional Psalms ; there are the plain and specific prac- 
tical directions of so large a portion of the Epistles, 
and the beautiful though brief descriptions of the 
*' house where the many mansions be ; " the home 
of the good, where ^' the wicked shall cease from 
troubling;" and where " the pure in heart shall see 
God." So I might go on at will with specifications 
of the varied adaptation of the Word of God to the 
wants and capacities of f/ie people. And what does 
this Church, that assumes the prerogative of taking 
the Bible away from the common people to inter- 
pret it to them, propose? Will it supply the place 
by the stately interpretations of " the said sacred 
Scriptures," in the dry and precise decrees and 
canons of '' the said sacred and ecumenical Council 
of Trent," with an ugly anathema at the end of 
every one ? Or will it substitute the silly legends 
of the saints, and relics, and prodigies? 

O God ! how long wilt thou suffer this fraud upon 
thy people ? 

Do you tell me there is no restraint upon the laity 
of the Roman Church in this country, in reference to 
reading the Scriptures ? Well, I don't know how that 
is, I am sure. But I do know what " the sacred and 
holy ecumenical and general Synod of Trent " de- 
creed on the subject. I have already quoted it. No 
one is allowed by that decree to possess a Bible in 
the modern languages until a written license is ob- 
tained of a Bishop or Inquisitor. A written license 



Errors of the Papacy. 237 

to read the Bible ! They may not enforce this de- 
cree very rigidly. And yet they may, for aught I 
know. They do find it politic in some countries to 
relax the disciplinary regulations of the Council. 

Now, I ask you to remember the general positions 
I have taken, and then consider the following pas- 
sages of Scripture : " For whatsoever things were 
written aforetime, zaere written for our learning, that 
we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures 
might have hope." (Rom. xv, 4.) Paul wrote this 
'^ to all that is in Rome, beloved of God, called to 
be saints." (Rom. i, 7.) The Scriptures were writ- 
ten for their learning. The case is a plain one. I 
shall make no comment. 

The mystery of Christ '^ is made manifest ; and 
by the Scriptures of the Prophets, according to the 
commandment of the everlasting God, made known 
to all nations, for the obedience of faith." The 
mystery of Christ is made known by the Scriptures 
to the nations. (Rom. xvi, 26.) 

Peter, in writing to those who had " obtained like 
precious faith " with himself, said, "' We have also 
a more sure word of prophecy ; whereunto ye do 
well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth 
in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star 
arise in your hearts." Notice what is said here, and 
to whom. (2 Pet. i, 19.) 

'' And many other signs truly did Jesus in the 
presence of his disciples, which are not written in 
this book. But these are written that ye might be- 
lieve that Jesus is the Christ ; and that, believing, 
ye might have life through his name." (John xx, 
30, 31.) And these things, written for this purpose, 



238 Lecture XL 

not to be read by the people ! An Interpreter to 
come in between these Scriptures and the purpose 
for which they were given ! Preposterous. As if 
the means of producing faith, which God himself 
ordained, could be mended by the contrivance of 
priests. 

To offset all this, they tell us that " no prophecy 
of the Scripture is of any private interpretation." 
(2 Pet. i, 20.) This, they tell us, is conclusive 
against '' private interpretation." Is it ? Every in- 
telligent man that has examined it knows better. 
The Romish interpretation, in the first place, mis- 
takes the subject of this proposition. The subject 
is not Scripture in general, hut prophecy. And then 
the predicate has reference, not to interpretation by 
private persons, but to an interpretation that applies 
prophecy to private affairs. The prophecies of 
Scripture look to grand results, and are not to be 
restricted to matters of a trivial importance or local 
significance. So far from any restraint here upon 
the right of individuals to read and interpret the 
Scriptures, the Apostle simply gives a rule to guide 
us in the interpretation of a certain class of Script- 
ures. He warns us against a certain manner of in- 
terpreting prophecy. The Bible is a safe and suf- 
ficient guide in the way of life. '' Thy word is a 
lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." 
(Psa. cxix, 105.) '^ For the commandment is a lamp, 
and the law is light." (Prov. vi, 23.) 

I presume that those who disparage translations 
of the Scriptures, as if they must always be unreli- 
able, do not expect us to understand that they are 
serious. It is simply a place of momentary repose 



Errors of the Papacy. 239 

for a retreating argument. I have already said, in 
my first lecture, what is necessary on this topic. 
We know that great pains have been taken by com- 
petent men in the production of our common En- 
glish version. The unlearned reader has every as- 
surance that he has in that Book the mind of the 
Spirit. And he knows that in the humble, careful 
perusal of it he is elevated and purified. Rather 
would he relinquish goods, and health, and reputa- 
tion than his Bible. Yea, rather would he lay down 
his life ! It is the key that unlocks to him the door 
of immortality. It is the light shining in a dark 
place ; the sure guide to holiness and God. It is 
the depository of heavenly riches, from which he 
may gather infinite supplies ; the only treasure which 
he may transport across the dark river. 

When men come, under pretense of divine au- 
thority, to calumniate your Bible, remember the 
words of the text which I read at the commence- 
ment of this lecture : 

'' I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran ; I 
have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." 

On next Sunday evening I will deliver a lecture 
on the Duke of Brunswick's fiftieth reason for turn- 
ing Romanist. 



240 Lecture XII. 



LECTURE XII. 

INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY — THE DUKE OF BRUNS- 
WICK'S FIFTIETH REASON. 

" So, then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God. — 
Rom. xiv, 12. 

THE Roman theory of religion results logically 
in this : that the Church is responsible for the 
salvation of the individual. This is in direct oppo- 
sition to the teaching of the Scriptures, and its tend- 
ency is most unfortunate. The result upon individ- 
ual character is often deplorable — 

That this charge against the Roman religion has 
not been thoughtlessly made, I shall proceed to show. 
I think the fact may be detected in the consciousness 
of that Church, or, at least, in that of many of its 
members. An illustrious instance occurs in the case 
of a Duke of Brunswick, who, a good while ago, united 
with that Church. Having done so, he gave the 
world a long string of reasons for his strange con- 
duct. Many of these reasons are silly enough. He 
inquired of the saints in heaven, and the holy mar- 
tyrs, and, it seems, he received an answer from their 
thrones in favor of the Roman Church. And even 
the lost souls in hell were polite enough to make 
the same response to his interrogatory. But the last 
of all his reasons is as follows : " The Catholics to 
whom I spoke concerning my salvation, assured me 



Errors of the Papacy. 241 

that, if I were to be damned for embracing the Cath- 
oHc faith, they were ready to answer for me at the 
day of judgment, and to take my damnation on them- 
selves, an assurance I could never extort from the 
ministers of any sect, in case I should live and die in 
their religion. From whence I inferred the Roman 
Catholic faith was built on a better foundation than 
any of those sects that have divided from it." The 
Duke understood that the Church took the responsi- 
bility of his salvation. Indeed, the priests whom he 
consulted did so in express terms. 

But let us look at the facts as they appear in the 
acknowledged standards of Romanism. We shall 
discover that the Church makes herself directly re- 
sponsible — 

I. For the belief oi the individual. She forbids his 
going to the Bible for his creed. When she allows 
him to read that book at all, it is with the express 
reservation that he shall not undertake to determine 
the sense of it. That he must get from her. The 
priests tell us the Bible is a " dead record," and that 
the meaning of it is in the Church. How it is in the 
Church, they seem not to understand. Sometimes 
the Church is so replete with the Divine presence 
that even a "servant girl" will instantly detect any 
heretical doctrine that may be proposed to her. 
Then again, when the emergencies of the argument 
require it, it is the teaching ChiircJi, that is, the 
priesthood, that is infallible. But, at all events, 
the Bible is a dead record, and the sense of it is 
in the Church. For the true sense the Church is 
resposible to each individual. She cuts off his in- 



242 Lecture XII. 

quiry at any other oracle. He is to ask her, and 
stop there. 

Now, just think of it. The sense of a book not in 
itself ! What a discovery ! There lies the book, 
and it has some sense ; but that sense is not to be 
found in itself. Let us be thankful that they allow- 
any sense to the holy volume, even if it is to be found 
somewhere else. But I submit that that is a sus- 
picious cause which denies an intelligible meaning 
in the record to which it appeals as the source of its 
authority. Let the attorney tell what the witness 
means, and his client will be sure to be clear. The 
moment there is a collusion discovered between the 
interested party and the witness, the witness is no 
longer competent. He is not credible. " The Bible 
testifies for me," says the Roman Church, " only let 
me tell you what that testimony is. You are not to 
presume to hear the witness for yourself, or, at all 
events, you are not to presume to understand it. If 
so, you will be certain to understand it against me. 
But just let me tell you what the witness means, and 
you shall see that it is all in my favor." Cool, 
isn't it > 

It is instructive to witness the efforts by which 
Romanists undertake to break the " vicious circle " 
which they have made in first making the Bible de- 
pendent on them for its credibility as a divine wit- 
ness, and then making it a witness for themselves. 
The circle must be broken, or the testimony will be 
of no avail. A desperate logical assault is made, and 
sure enough the circle breaks, but lo ! the preten- 
sions of " the Church " are gone. The Bible, after 



Errors of the Papacy. 243 

all, is not to be received on the authority of the 
Church ! What a waste of words there has been ! 

But still the Scriptures are a " dead record." Are 
they, indeed } Let us see. The paper on which 
they are written is dead. So is the binding. So, 
also, is the ink of which the characters are formed. 
But the word which those characters express to us, 
is it dead .'* " The word of God liveth and abideth 
forever." (i Peter i, 23.) It "effectually worketh in 
them that believe." (i Thess. ii, 13.) " For the word of 
God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two- 
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder 
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and 
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart." (Heb, iv, 12.) "I will never forget thy pre- 
cepts, for with them hast thou quickened me!' (Ps. 
cxix, 93.) Alas ! that men should ever feel them- 
selves under the necessity of disparaging the written 
word of God. It must be a false creed that requires 
such support. That Word has been the praise and 
joy of the godly in all ages of the world. They med- 
itate in it day and night. It is sweeter to them than 
" honey and the honey-comb." But the Church of 
Rome has found herself under the necessity of re- 
straining her people from finding the sense of Script- 
ure. The " teaching Church," made up of " pastors 
and prelates," has the keeping of that. 

It may be of interest to see how this works prac- 
tically. Take the text in James v. 14, 15 : "Is any 
sick among you ? Let him call for the elders of the 
Church ; and let them pray over him, anointing him 

with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of 
16 



244 Lecture XII. 

faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him 
up ; and if he have committed sins they shall be for- 
given him." The " teaching Church " assures us that 
the sense of this place is not what the words import, 
by any means. By " the elders of the Church," we 
are to understand a priest ; by raising him up, we are 
to understand his preparation for death ; and whereas 
the text assures us that " the prayer of faitPi shall save 
the sick," the sense is that the anointing of extreme 
unction does it. This is giving " the word " a sense, 
with a vengeance ! But if any one should hesitate to 
admit that words may be despoiled of their definite 
meaning, mother Church hushes him up by insuring 
him against all evil consequences of his misbelief 
Has she not the right to interpret Scripture ? And 
where the unfortunate apostle said what he did not 
mean, is it not her province to correct the blunder t 
Be quiet, children; let "mother " talk. She knows 
what the apostle ought to have said. And so, in 
James v, i6, " Confess your faults one to another, and 
pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The 
effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth 
much." This " teaching Church " tells us that by 
" confessing your faults one to another," we are to 
understand, not reciprocal confession one to another, 
hwX. private confession to a priest. To be sure, that is 
not what the apostle says, but it is what he means. 
It is, indeed, the reverse of what he says, but still it 
is what he means. Does not the " teaching Church " 
know } The apostle enjoins upon Christians to 
pray for one another, that they may be healed. But 
the Ecclesia Docens assures us that prayer is by no 



Errors of the Papacy. 245 

means necessary to that object, which is secured by 
the sentence of the priest-judge. " I absolve thee," etc. 
Prayer is well enough, and may be "laudably joined" 
to the sentence of absolution, but it is not "neces- 
sary." (See Council of Trent, Sess. xiv, chap. 3.) 
So the decalogue commands : " Thou shalt not bow 
down thyself to " images. But the Ecclesia Doceiis 
teaches us that we are to bow down to them. The 
Church tells us that God says one thing and means 
another. SJie knows, she has the sense of the dead 
record. Amid the terrors of Sinai, when God gave 
the world its Moral Constitution, he made an unfor- 
tunate use of language. He positively prohibited a 
thing that ought not to be prohibited. It is a pity he 
promulgated such a law ; but what is a Church of 
doctors fit for that can't correct the Almighty! If 
he did make a great blunder in the fundamental law 
of religion, still there is no great harm done. The 
teaching Church can correct it. 

The bearing of all this upon the question of per- 
sonal responsibility to God will be at once apparent 
to every one. He is to take Christian doctrine as 
the priest gives it to him, and not as the Bible 
states it. Of course, he is not then accountable to 
God for the right use of his mental powers in ascer- 
taining the truth. Individual responsibility is de- 
stroyed at the first step of the Christian course. 
Individuality is, to this extent, surrendered. He is 
not to think, in questions of faith. He is not to sup- 
pose that he can understand the plainest language. 
" Thou shalt not bow down thyself to " any image, is 
to have no meaning to him until the priest, as the 



246 Lecture XII. 

representative of the Ecclesia Docens, tells him what 
it means. And then, when he is told that it has no 
meaning, or that it means the opposite of what it 
expresses, he is to make no difficulty, but receive the 
dictum of his teacher. So complete a surrender of 
the indefeasible right of thinking leaves no basis of 
responsibility. The Church takes his salvation upon 
herself in this incipient stage of it. 

And in the case of those who were baptized in 
their childhood the Roman Church claims the au- 
thority of compelling their submission to her. (Coun- 
cil of Trent, Sess. vii, canon 14, on baptism.) And 
according to custom the Church curses all who deny 
her this right. This is belonging to the Church 
with a vengeance. All who receive her brand, 
whether voluntarily or involuntarily, are her prop- 
erty. They are to be taken, wherever they may be 
found, and compelled to be Romanists. This ex- 
plains the kidnapping of the Mortara child. It ex- 
plains, also, the penalties inflicted on Protestant pas- 
tors in Papal countries for receiving converts from 
the Roman Church. It is well known that, in some 
countries of Europe, whose governments are con- 
trolled by the Papal hierarchy, where Protestants are 
allowed some precarious privileges, they are by law 
prohibited from enlarging their Churches by acces- 
sions from the Roman communion. Do not the 
priests' flocks belong to them 1 We are not to ex- 
pect them to submit quietly to the loss of \\\€\x prop- 
erty. And if any restless individual should wake up 
to the consciousness of his personal relations to God, 
and begin presumptuously to adjust himself to those 



Errors of the Papacy. 247 

relations, there must be an instant stop put to it. If 
he pleads the existence of an individual conscience, 
he must be told that he belongs, conscience and all, 
to the Church, and that she will take care of him, and 
his conscience too. 

The Church of Rome further claims the right of 
imposing upon the faithful dogmas that are not 
found in the Bible, even by the most perverted inter- 
pretation of its language ; and even such as her 
writers, many of them, allow were not known to the 
early Church. Take purgatory and indulgences for 
an example. Cardinal Fisher says : " Many are 
tempted now-a-days not to rely much on indulgen- 
ces, for this consideration, that the use of them ap- 
pears to be new and very lately known among Chris- 
tians. To which I answer, it is not very certain who 
was the first author of them ; the doctrine oi purga- 
tory was a long time unknown, and was rarely , if at 
all, heard of among the ancients, and to this day the 
Greeks believe it not ; nor was the belief of either 
PURGATORY OR INDULGENCES SO necessary in the 
primitive Church as it is now ; so long as men were 
unconcerned about purgatory, nobody inquired after 
i7idulgences. 

St. Anthony, Archbishop of Florence, who has 
been canonized, says, " Touching indulgences, we 
have nothing expressly cited in Holy Scripture. . . . 
nor are they found at all in the writings of the an- 
cient doctors, but of the modern." 

What these eminent ecclesiastics admit, every 
reader of the Scriptures knows to be true. Those 
doctrines are not to be found in that book, even in 



248 Lecture XII. 

the remotest hint. Yet " the teaching Church " re- 
quires that they should be received, and makes her- 
self responsible for any consequences that may 
follow. 

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the 
Virgin Mary has been definitely settled, if my mem- 
ory serves me, only within the past decade, and un- 
der the present Pontiif, Pio Nono. So that it was 
not heretical until very recently to suppose that the 
Virgin was not conceived or born in any other man- 
ner than another human being. The Scriptures give 
her no other distinction than that of being the moth- 
er of our Lord. And when one said to our Saviour, 
" Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps 
which thou hast sucked." He replied, " Yea, rather, 
blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep 
it." All the intimations of Mary's character con- 
tained in the gospels place her upon a level with 
other godly matrons, except in the single fact that 
she gave birth to the world's Redeemer. But now, 
at this late day, the Ecclesia Docens makes heretics 
of us all unless we will receive this new and unscript- 
ural dogma. She takes it upon herself to impose 
this article of faith upon mankind. 

From all that I have presented, it will appear that 
the Roman Church relieves her members entirely of 
responsibility in reference to ih^ir faith. I shall now 
show you : 

II. That she makes herself directly responsible for 
the communication of grace and solvation. To do 
this, I must have recourse again to the decrees and 
canons of the memorable Council of Trent. In the 



Errors of the Papacy. 24^ 

first place, the Council teaches that the sacraments, 
at least some of them, are necessary to salvation. 
(Sess. vii, on the Sacraments in General, Canon 4.) 
It further declares that the sacraments "contain the 
grace which they signify," and that they confer that 
grace on those who do not place an obstacle thereto." 
Canon 6, in session xiv, chapter 2, we are told that 
*' by baptism, putting on Christ, we are made therein 
entirely a new creature, obtaining a full and entire 
remission of all sins." And, from the same source, 
we learn that none but priests can administer the 
sacraments. From all this you see how completely 
salvation is in the hands of the priesthood. And all 
this is yet more apparent when we remember that 
any want of intention, on the part of the priest, to do 
what the Church does, is held to be fatal to the effi- 
cacy of a sacrament. Baptism is no baptism unless 
the priest intends it to be so, and the person receiv- 
ing the spurious ceremony must go unsaved ; for 
without baptism, according to this theory, there is no 
remission, and no *'new creature." So completely 
does the Roman Church put the salvation of one 
man into the hands of another. The volition of the 
priest comes in between the penitent and pardon. 
The priest stands between him and God, and admits 
him or shuts him out, at pleasure. 

This is seen still more plainly, if possible, in the 
doctrine of priestly absolution. This is obtained in 
what is called the sacrament oi penance ^ and is con- 
nected with auricular confession. It is designed for 
the pardon of sins committed after baptism. Great 
stress is laid upon it by the Council of Trent " And 



f 
250 Lecture XII. 

this sacrament of penance is, for those who have 
fallen after baptism, necessary unto salvation — as 
baptism itself is for those who have not, as yet, been 
regenerated." (Sess. xiv, chap. 2.) In the following 
chapter we are informed " that the form of the sacra- 
ment of penance, wherein its force principally co?i- 
sists, is placed in those words of the minister, / ab- 
solve theCy etc.," and that *• the effect of this sacra- 
ment, as far as regards its force and efficacy, is rec- 
onciliation with God." And in chapter six of the 
same session : " But although the absolution of the 
priest is the dispensation of another's bounty, yet it 
is not a bare ministry only, whether of announcing 
the Gospel, or of declaring that sins are forgiven, but 
is after the manner of 2i judicial act, whereby sentence 
is pronouncedly the priest as by 2i judge.'' Here we 
have the tnbunal of penance. The priest is the 
judge, and the accused is both the criminal and the 
witness. Having heard the case, and all the circum- 
stances, detailed ivitJi great viijiuteness, (as I shall show 
when I lecture on the confessional,) the judge pro- 
nounces the absolution or pardon of his criminal. 

Nor can the Romanist die, with any assurance of 
salvation, without the presence of the priest. Lest 
some unforgiven sin should rest upon his soul just at 
the last, he must have the Extreme Unction. By 
this he is secured against eternal torments y though 
not against /;/;;^^/^r;'. And it is the priest who does 
it. You see in all this how completely salvation 
comes through the priest. The "faithful" are to be- 
lieve and do as the Church says, and she holds them 
harmless in it, Their responsibility is transferred 



Errors of the Papacy. 251 

from their Maker to her. Let them only observe a 
commendable docility toward her, and she will bring 
them salvation in the sacraments. 

III. Now let us see this system in practical opera- 
tion. The teaching Church, made up of pastors and 
prelates, not being confined to the Bible for doc- 
trines, goes to tradition, and "'old wives' fables." It 
is deplorable to see the silly stories that are either 
directly endorsed, or allowed to go unreproved among 
the people, by these infallible pastors. Such, for in- 
stance, as the story of Godric, the hermit, who used 
to go bathing in a river in the winter time to mortify 
the flesh, and upon whom the devil used to play such 
pranks as mischievous boys sometimes do. For the 
devil would now and then run away with his clothes. 
But Godric always raised such a shout after him that 
he was glad to drop the duds and run for dear life. 
The old saints, it seems, had a deal of trouble with 
this ugly and obtrusive personage. St. Benedict, the 
founder of the Benedictine order, knocked the devil 
out of one of his monks with a single blow of his 
fist, and drove him from another with the lash of a 
whip. So we are gravely told. 

These puerile stories, many of them, come to us 
under the sanction of distinguished names, as, for 
instance, that of the *' Holy House of Loretto." This 
is a little stone building at Loretto, in Italy, in which, 
they say, the Saviour was born. As the story goes, 
angels brought it from Nazareth in the thirteenth 
century, but perhaps, becoming weary of their bur- 
den, they rested in Dalniatia. After a time they re- 
turned to their task, and transported it across the 



252 Lecture XII. 

Adriatic into Italy, and, after several removals in the 
neighborhood, it finally became stationary on its pres- 
ent site. This story was written in this country by 
a respectable prelate, the ''Very Rev. P. R. Kenrick," 
afterwards a bishop, and published by Cuminskey, of 
Philadelphia. 

I am credibly informed that the professors in the 
Jesuit College, on Ninth-street, occasionally instruct 
their students in the wonderful legends with which 
they are so abundantly supplied. A gentleman, who 
is present in the house now, related to me, some 
time ago, an incident of which he was a witness, 
when a student there. The President of the College 
delivered a lecture, on a Sunday afternoon, to the 
students, in which he set forth at large the extraor- 
dinary merits of St. Francis Xavier ; and, amongst 
other things, very gravely related some wonderful 
miracle. I do not know what the miracle was, but 
the life of the Saint abounds in them. One of them 
is to this effect : St. Francis, being on a voyage at 
sea, lost an invaluable crucifix, by letting it drop 
overboard. In his distress, he prayed for its recov- 
ery, and one day, walking along the sea-shore, what 
should he see but his lost crucifix gliding along to- 
ward him upon the surface of the water ! He de- 
scended with great joy to the water's edge, when, 
behold, a crab, devoutly holding the crucifix, came 
and laid it down at his feet ! These edifying stories 
are all indorsed by the somewhat celebrated Dr. 
MiLNER. When the lecture in the College, which I 
have spoken of, was closed, and the students dis- 
missed, one of them, a St. Louis Protestant-raised 



Errors of the Papacy. 253 

youth, stepped up to one of the Prefects, and said to 
him : " Did Father Vandebelt expect us to beheve 
that big story he told us ! " " Certainly," was the re- 
ply. " Then he must have presumed greatly upon the 
credulity of his audience," said 3^oung St. Louis. 

Then they have (not in this country) their winking 
Madonnas, and the blood of some saint in a vial, that 
liquefies on certain occasions, (always in the hand of 
a priest.) Many of their churches, especially in Rome, 
are richly supplied with relics, such as a bottle of 
the tears of Jesus, which he shed at the grave of 
Lazarus, the cord which bound the Saviour when he 
was scourged, a bottle of the milk of Mary, and some 
fragments of Mary's garments. They exhibit the 
finger of St. Thomas, which touched the most holy 
rib of Jesus after he was risen from the dead, and 
the sponge which contained the gall and wormwood. 
They have innumerable pieces of the true cross, and 
heads of the same saint in various places, and even a 
feather from the wing of the angel Gabriel, which 
was dropped at the annunciation. By the way, I am 
told that this old feather gives no flattering idea of 
angelic plumage. In mitigation of this, I presume, 
we ought in justice to consider that, at shedding 
time, feathers well used might be supposed to be 
somewhat dilapidated. 

And then they entertain their people with a gor- 
geous ceremonial, made up from various sources, 
partly, as themselves admit, from old theatrical rep- 
resentations. Think of that ; the solemn worship of 
the house of God taken from the stage ! Is this wor- 
ship, or popular entertainment ? 



254 Lecture XII. 

I might enlarge these specimens of the m.anner in 
which the " teaching Church " guides her children at 
pleasure. But this will answer the purpose of show- 
ing to what lengths they feel authorized to go. The 
written word being no better than tradition, and 
they having full liberty to determine what is and 
what is not tradition, they can recognize no limit but 
that of their own will, in the range of their teaching. 
The consequences are indicated in the facts I have 
given. The want of liberty on the part of the laity, 
of learning God's will for themselves from the Bible, 
must be compensated in some way. They must be 
amused by prodigies, and their imaginations gratified 
by exhibitions. Saints must be reverenced and in- 
voked, and their images receive the homage of pros- 
tration, the decalogue to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing. Here is the practical result of assuming the 
responsibility of the people's salvation, and taking it 
out of their own hands. Such unlimited power is 
never safe except in the hands of inspired men. And 
that the priests are not inspired is sufficiently patent 
in the follies and impieties which they impose upon 
the people for religion. If there were no other testi- 
mony against the proxy system of Rome, this is con- 
clusive. 

We have seen thus, in part, how this system acts 
in one direction, that is, upon the conduct of the 
clergy, in managing the affairs of which they have 
usurped the control. Now let us look in the other 
direction, and see its effect upon the laity. And, to 
say nothing of the amount of their time and devo- 
tions consumed in services grossly unscriptural, such 



Errors of the Papacy. 255 

as Ave Marias, counting beads, and I know not what 
all, is it not true, (I do not say in all, but,) in a mul- 
titude of cases, there is a bad moral effect produced ? 
And is not this the legitimate and direct tendency of 
the system ? And are not those who escape this 
effect, the exceptio7ts to the rule ? How many are 
there who live in the habitual indulgence of vicious 
practices, in the hope of sacramental preparation for 
the next world, in ai'tiailo mortis ! Just at the last, 
when sinful enjoyments must be relinquished, the 
priest may relieve them of their guilt by the effica- 
cious unction. Does not the swearer yield to his 
profane propensity, and the toper to his cups, in this 
hope? And does not the theory and practice of the 
Church encourage this state of things f Do they not, 
millions of them, live in habitual and gross sin, prom- 
ising themselves that the priest will shrive them at 
last, and all will be well ? And does not the practice 
of the pastors confirm them in this belief? 

Now, let any one read the New Testament, and 
get his idea of the Christian congregation, with its 
pastors and its worship, from that s.ource, and how 
striking will he find the contrast in every particular, 
with those of the Roman Church ! In the one he 
will find worship, and in the other an exhibition. In 
the one he will find the religion of the heart ; in the 
other, that of the imagination. In the one he will 
find teachers convincing their hearers mightily from 
the Scriptures ; in the other he will find the tradi- 
tions and commandments of men. In the one he 
will find no relics nor images ; in the other they 
abound. There he will find the fervent simplicity 



256 Lectupe XII. 

that looks directly to God through Christ ; here he 
will find the interposition of pictures and images. 
The material has displaced the spiritual. Acting has 
taken the place of worship. 

IV. Now contemplate the true Scriptural idea, and 
see the contrast. 

I. Every man is responsible to God for the correct- 
ness of his faith. " Search the Scriptures," said our 
Saviour. For what purpose ? Why search the Script- 
ures .-* " For in them ye think ye have eternal life, 
and they are they that testify of me." Here was a 
question of religious faith, the Messiahship of Jesus, 
and he sent the people to the Bible to determine it. 
Were they unable to understand the sacred writings } 
Then Jesus but mocked their imbecility in giving 
t'iis direction. He sent them to a dumb oracle for 
the most important information that has ever claimed 
the attention of mankind. Do you believe it } No, 
no ; it is impossible to believe it. The truth in re- 
gard to this great question was in the Holy Script- 
ures, and the people were able to find it there. It 
was their duty to do so. And if they refused to 
make the examination, the guilt of obstinate unbelief 
was upon them. Or if they brought prejudice or 
stubbornness into the examination, so as to blind their 
minds, they were equally criminal. 

That men are directly responsible to God for their 
religious views, or, in other words, for the reception 
of the truth, is distinctly taught by the Apostle in 
2 Thess. chap, ii. Speaking of those who " received 
not the love of the tnithl' he says that ''for this cause 
God shall send them strong delusion, that they 



Errors of the Papacy. 257 

should believe a lie : that they all might be damned 
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in un- 
righteousness." In the love of the truth it shall be 
found, but the penalty of not loving it is to be given 
up to believe the lie that is preferred before it, and 
to be destroyed in the fatal misbelief. So (Rom. i, 
24.. 26,) God gave " up to uncleanness " those '' who 
changed the truth of God into a lie." " For this 
cause God gave them up, to vile affections." Hear 
the Prophet Jeremiah on this subject, chapter xiii, 
24, 25 : " Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble 
that passeth away, by the wind of the wilderness. 
This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, 
saith the Lord ; because thou has forgotten me, and 
trusted in falsehood!' 

There can be no doubt, from all these Scriptures, 
that God holds men accountable for the right use of 
their reason, just as he does for any other endowment. 
Not that he expects every man to know all truth. 
He requires no impossibilities. But he does require 
all men to love the truth, to search for it, and, so far 
as they have capacity and opportunity, to find it and 
embrace it. And, as the true is the basis of \h!Qgoody 
the most fearful denunciations are recorded ag^ainst 
those who trifle with it. And these denunciations 
are not a dead record. He who reads them shall see 
a sense in them, that will " make his blood run chill." 

But I am told that " faith cometh by hearing," and 
that, therefore, it must be found in the teaching 
Church. But tell me, does faith come only by hear- 
ing } Answer that question. " But these things are 
WRITTEN that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, 



258 Lecture XII. 

the Son of God ; and that, believing, ye might have 
life through his name." The truth is, that faith is 
produced by the Word of God, either heard or read. 
When the true doctrine is preached and heard, it is as 
efficacious in producing faith as when it is read. And 
the question is unimportant in any given case wheth- 
er faith originated in reading or hearing. The only 
important question is as to the character of the 
teaching. Was it the Word of God ? " Blessed is 
he that readethy and they that hear the words of this 
prophecy, and keep those things which are written 
therein." The efficacy of the word, when preached 
in truth, is incalculable. But it must be the " word 
of God," and not the " traditions of men." *' Faith 
Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the zvord of God^ 
When that is preached, a trite faith results ; but when 
human traditions are preached, they produce a false 
faith, if any. 

Protestants preach. They go to the Bible for " the 
word of God that liveth and abideth forever," and that 
they preach " in demonstration of the Spirit." And 
our good friends, the priests, seem vexed that now 
and then one should be paid a sufficient salary to 
support his family. Why should they find fault with 
that } Does God prohibit wedlock to his ministers ? 
*' Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled ; 
but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." 
(Heb xiii, 4.) The support of the Protestant clergy 
in this country is voluntary on the part of the con- 
gregation, and if a wealthy congregation choose to 
make the minister and his family comfortable, why 
should any one object ? I presume there are but few 



Errors of the Papacy. 259 

priests, where there are ample ecclesiastical revenues, 
who want snug apartments and good cheer. And if 
they enjoy a smoking dinner, or even a glass of good 
champagne, if they will have it, nobody grumbles. 
And they ought not to throw stones from their glass- 
houses at preachers whose flocks support them well. 
But, after all, there is an excuse for it. Bachelors, I 
believe, are naturally fault-finding and crabbed, and 
we must not mind every little quirk in them. 

But it is a truth known to every one who has paid 
any attention to the subject, that, with a few excep- 
tions, the Protestant pastors of our country are inad- 
equately supported. It is no uncommon thing to see 
men, whoso capacity would command an ample com- 
petency in other spheres, cheerfully receiving a bare 
support, while devoting their whole time and strength 
to that cause which is dearer to them than money, 
fame or life. '* Their record is on high, and their re- 
ward with God," They do not dispense salvation in 
the sacraments, but they pray men in Christ's stead 
to be reconciled to God. They comfort the feeble- 
minded, support the weak, and warn the unruly. 
Having done this, they still point every man to the 
Bible, as the only unerring standard of revealed truth, 
by which their own teaching is to be judged, and from 
which the true doctrme is to be ascertained. He as- 
sures them that they must answer to God for any 
error into which they willingly fall. 

2. Salvation is received directly from God. and 

men are responsible directly to him for its rejection, 

as to him they are to look directly for its bestovvment. 

"Who can forgive sins but God onlv ?" asked the 
17 



26o Lecture XII. 

Scribes, and our Saviour tacitly affirmed the truth of 
the proposition thus interrogatively affirmed by them. 
" It is God that justifieth." (Rom. viii, 33.) God is 
"just, and the justifier of him which beheveth in 
Jesus." " It is one God which shall justify the cir- 
cumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through 
faith." (Rom. iii, 26, 30.) Blessed is the man to 
whom God will not impute sin." (Rom. iv, 8.) These 
Scriptures require no comment. The pardon of sin 
is with God. Who can look into the heart and dis- 
cover true contrition except himself.'* Who can de- 
tect the hypocrite but the Omniscient God ? 

But does not God promise to loose in heaven what 
his ministers loose on earth, and to bind in heaven 
what they bind on earth } I answer, no, distinctly 
and emphatically, and call special attention to the 
fact that this power of binding and loosing was con- 
ferred by Christ on local Churches, and in matters 
of ecclesiastical discipline. It was also conferred on 
Peter when he acknowledged Christ, doubtless because 
he and his fellow-apostles were, under Divine inspi- 
ration, to establish the Christian doctrine by which 
all things were to be bound and loosed. 

Did not Christ say to his ministers, " Whosesoever 
sins ye remit they are remitted unto him ; and whose- 
soever sins ye retain they are retained ? " No ; not 
to his ministers in general, but to the Apostles, and 
that only when he had breathed on them, and in a 
solemn manner conferred on them the gift of the 
Holy Ghost. (See John xx, 22. 23.) In Matthew 
xxviii, 19, 20, and Mark xvi, 15, 16, where the com- 
mission to preach with the promise of his perpetual 



Errors of the Papacy. 261 

presence is given by Christ, the power of forgiving 
sins is not coitferred. It was a special Apostolical 
prerogative, and, so far as we have any information, 
it was used by them sparingly, and in cases of Church 
discipline, as in the case of the incestuous person at 
Corinth. (2 Cor. ii, 5-1 1.) The agency of ministers 
in the forgiving of sins is distinctly set forth by 
Christ himself (Luke xxiv, 46, 47.) "Thus it is 
written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to 
rise from the dead the third day ; and that repent- 
ance and remission of sins should be preached in 
his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." 
This is what we have to do. " For after that in the 
wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, 
it pleased God by the fooHshness oi preaching to save 
them that believe." (i Cor. i, 21.) Christ is pro- 
claimed in his saving offices by his ministers, and to 
them that receive him he gives " power to become 
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." 
(John i, 12.) And when he is thus proclaimed, every 
one that reads or hears the proclamation is thrown 
upon his individual responsibility in the reception 
and consequences. In vain do you go to the priest 
for absolution. God invites you directly to himself. 
" Look unto me, all ends of the earth, and be ye 
saved ; for I am God, and besides me there is no 
Saviour." The business of salvation is directly ne- 
gotiated between God and the individual. All inter- 
vention of priests is so much intermeddling. The 
preacher has but to preachy to direct men to God, to 
insist on their compliance. He can do no more. 
" He that believeth not shall be damned." Suffer 



262 Lecture XII. 

not voiiisolvcs to bo luislod in this solemn business. 
Trust not ^ouI■ soul with the priest. l>v bis own 
confession, absolution niuv bo a tailure in his hands, 
for it there is not contrition in the penitent, the 
absolution tails. This fact of the secret soul the 
priest cannot know, and, being* deceived himself, he 
may deceive you. He may suppose you to be truly 
contrite when God knows you are not so. Thus he 
may establish von in a false hope, from which vou 
shall be roused when it is too late. Go to Ciod. who 
knows the heart, l.av vour case before him. Con- 
fess all vour sins at the mercy scat. Trust in the 
Saviour of sinners. b\>rsake cver\- evil wav. And 
God will hear the prayer o( the helpless, and the 
Spirit itself shall bear witness with vour spirit that 
you are a child ot God. ^^Rom. iii. 15. uv) And 
when God hears that joyful testimony, you will know 
that the witness is competent, and there is no mis- 
take. 

" l'^-er\- one of us nuist give account oi himself to 
God." 

Next Sunday evening I will deliver a lecture on 
the unity ^.-^i the Church, and another on the same 
subject the following Sunday. The next one will be 
on the Romish idea of Church unitv. 



Errors of the Papacy. 26 



:) 



LECTURE XIII. 

CHURCH UNITY — ROMANIST THEORY. 

" For it hath been declared to me of you, my brethren, by them 
which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among 
you. Now, this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul ; 
and I of Apollos ; and I of Cephas ; and I of Christ ? Is Christ 
divided? Was Paul crucified for you ? Or were ye baptized in the 
name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but 
Crispus and Gains ; lest any should say that I had baptized in amy 
own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanus ; be- 
sides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me 
not to baptize, but to preach the gospel ; not with wisdom of words, 
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. " — i Cor. i, 1 1-17. 

I HAVE been hearing a good deal lately of efforts 
to make the impression that I misrepresent the 
Roman Church. It is all very vague. No one 
seems to know definitely in what particular the mis- 
representations consist. I know not that I ought 
to be surprised at this. There are a great many 
things which the defenders of that Church would 
have concealed from the attention of the American 
public. That I have brought those things to light, 
sufficiently accounts for any efforts to discredit my 
statements. That a great number of the members 
of that Church suppose those things not to be true, 
I have no doubt. If they did but know their own 
Church, they would cease to be members of it ; but, 
in their strong attachment to it, they are ready to 
reject whatever evidence may militate strongly 



264 Lecture XIII. 

against it, and, no doubt, many of them believe, in 
the goodness of their hearts, that I have been mis- 
led. Perhaps they even suspect me of something 
worse. All this I can understand and appreciate. 
It is my misfortune, however, and not my fault, if 
I lose their confidence. I have not intentionally, 
nor do I believe I have in fact, misrepresented that 
Church in a single iota. I do not profess to be in- 
fallible ; but I do profess to be careful in ascertain- 
ing and stating facts. I have consulted none but 
the most respectable authorities, and the worst I 
have ever said in reference to the history of Roman- 
ism has been given in the words of Romanist his- 
torians. If there has been any misrepresentation, 
it was made by their own authors. Do you believe 
that Baronius has borne false witness against his 
own Church? And, in my delineations of the 
Church itself, I have gone to the decrees and canons 
of the Council of Trent. Will they repudiate that ? 
In doing so, they w^ould repudiate their own exist- 
ence. 

And now I pledge myself here, before God and 
this large audience, that if any man will prove to 
me tliat I have, in anything, misrepresented the 
Roman Church, or done it injustice, in these lectures, 
I will make the correction as public as I have made 
the allegation. If I have wronged any man, or any 
class of men, I desire to know it. And to all who 
may suppose that I have wronged them, I say, Come 
to me. State the facts to me. Point out my error, 
and prove it to be one. I have nothing against any 
Romanist, in my feelings, priest or layman ; nor do 
I believe I have wronged their Church in any 



Errors of the Papacy. 265 

particular ; nor shall I believe it until I see the proof. 
Then I will, and I now renew my pledge to cor- 
rect it. 

I am, in this and the next lecture, to invite your 
attention to the nnity of the CJiristian Cliurch, and 
especially, this evening, to the Roman idea of Church 
unity. 

Let us understand what that idea is, and then 
proceed to test its truth. 

The theory is, that the Pope, as the successor of 
Peter, is the supreme head of the Church on earth, 
and that those Churches, and only those, which 
acknowledge the supremacy of the Roman See, are 
true Churches of Christ ; and that they are so in 
virtue of that fact. On the contrary, those Churches 
which are not in communion with Rome, are schis- 
matic bodies ; and for that, even if there be no other 
reason, they are no part of the true Church. The 
unity of the Church, then, consists primarily in the 
connection of individual Churches with this central 
one at Rome. Whatever else may be evolved in 
the development of the theory, it comes to this, in 
the last analysis. Rome is the '' mother and mis- 
tress of Churches," and in connection with her is 
the test of all other Churches. All this rests on the 
hypothesis that Peter was constituted by Christ 
supreme head of the Church on earth, that he es- 
tablished himself at Rome, and that the Popes are 
his successors. 

That this system does secure an outward and 
formal unity, there is no doubt. A stupendous 
organization clusters around the person, or, if you 
prefer it, the office, of " His Holiness.'* The ques- 



266 Lecture XIII. 

tion is as to whether this unity of organism is the 
unity of Christ. The argument of this lecture must 
be of a negative character, and can not be fully 
appreciated except in connection with the positive 
aspect of the subject. This I propose to give on 
next Sunday evening. And I confess to the weak- 
ness of desiring the same audience in delivering that 
lecture, that listens to this. 

The unity of the Church, in the true idea of it, 
extends to ^places, and through all ages of its ex- 
istencc. No one will controvert this proposition, and 
I desire you to apply it to the facts and arguments 
that I shall present you this evening. 

And, further, whatever is essential in the consti- 
tution of the Church at one time, and in one place, 
is so in all places and times. And any given organi- 
zation, which claims a monopoly of Christian Church 
unity, must show an unbroken history in this par- 
ticular. It must invariably receive what is essential 
in the Christian Church, and it must never impose 
upon mankind as essential what is not so. These 
statements are so evidently axiomatic that I have 
but to announce them. They need no proof. 

One more statement I will make as the corollary 
of this last one. Any given organization that pre- 
sents a variable and contradictory history in those 
matters which are essential in the existence of the 
Church, forfeits the claim of unity. No outward, 
organic unity can compensate the want of a consist- 
ent history in those vital matters. You admit this. 
You can not do otherwise. And, as the corollary of 
this again, whatever is heretical and schismatical at 
one time, is so at all times. Otherwise, the Church 



Errors of the Papacy. 267 

is a variable, capricious organization, wholly unlike 
its Divine Author. 

I have thought it best to postulate these palpa- 
ble and evident principles and facts at the outset, 
and shall recur to them as the progress of the argu- 
ment may indicate. 

In applying these principles to the Roman Church, 
I shall call your attention — 

I. To her dogmas. These she makes absolute 
terms of communion, and tests of heresy. Vari- 
ations in these must destroy her essential unity. If 
that is heresy now which was not so once, the change 
amounts to this, that the Church is not the same 
now that it was once, and unity, as it respects time, 
is destroyed. Or if that was once heretical in the 
Church which is 7tot so now, the same result follows. 
In reference to this I assert, and shall proceed to 
prove, the following facts : 

I. That the Church of Rome has, from time to 
time, enacted nevv decrees and canons, in which she 
has imposed new dogmas upon her members. The re- 
sult is, that new definitions of heresy have prevailed, 
so that what has been considered heresy in one age, 
has not been so considered in another, and so unity 
is destroyed. I know that the writers of that Church 
affirm that the canons of the Church do not create 
new dogmas, but only define old ones which have 
been held from the beginning. But this affirmation 
it not only without the support of history: it is di- 
rectly contradictory of the most unquestionable his- 
tory. Transubstantiation, the sacrifice of the mass, 
communion in one kind, purgatory, extreme unction, 
and many other things, the denial of which is now 



268 Lecture XIII. 

heretical, were at one time unknown in the Church. 
These traditions of the Church consist of notions 
that originated in imaginative minds, and were set 
afloat in a superstitious age, and variously received, 
or disbeheved, or modified, until some General 
Council took them up and made dogmas of them. 
Their history, for the most part, may be satisfac- 
torily traced to their origin, and through the various 
phases of their existence and progress, until they 
became part and parcel of the creed. 

Take purgatory as an example of this. In my 
last lecture I gave you the testimony of eminent 
Papal authors to the fact that it was unknown in the 
early Church. Every one acquainted with the doc- 
trines of the Church in the first centuries knows this 
to be true. The history of purgatory, in brief, is as 
follows : First, Christians began to allow and prac- 
tice prayers for the dead. The first traces of this 
practice are found about two hundred years after 
Christ. But there was no purgatory yet. They 
prayed with the understanding that their friends 
were either in heaven or hell, and on the supposition 
that their prayers would heighten the joys of the 
one, and render the other more tolerable. Tertul- 
lian is the first who mentions prayers for the dead, 
and this after he had embraced the heresy of Mon- 
tanism. At the funeral of the Emperor Constantine 
the people '' supplicated God, with tears and lamen- 
tations, for his soul." But they believed, at the same 
time, that he was in heaven. Augustine had no 
doubt that Monica, his mother, was in heaven when 
he prayed for her. The custom, no doubt, origin- 
ated in a blind sentiment, and when men began to 



Errors of the Papacy. 269 

reason about it, and account to themselves for it, 
they assigned the reason I have already given. 

As to the ancient Liturgies, no one can tell what 
alterations were made in them in early times, and 
at any rate they make nothing for purgatory. They 
contain forms of prayer for those who had " gone 
in purity of soul and body to God," and for the Vir- 
gin Mary by name. In the Liturgy of Basil, the 
supplicant ^' remembers all the departed clergy and 
laity, particularly the most holy, glorious, immacu- 
late, blessed God-bearing lady." Origen has been 
given as teaching the doctrine of purgatory. He 
did, indeed, assert that all men, both good and bad, 
should, at the general judgment, pass through the 
fire of the general conflagration, and be thus puri- 
fied as metal is separated from its dross. The 
Romanists certainly will not take this for purgatory. 
Origen was an accomplished man and brilliant writ- 
er, and gained many adherents to his views. 

By a strange inconsistency, Augustine sometimes 
denies any middle state, and at other times supposes 
a purgatorial process, and is, perhaps, entitled to 
the distinction of having invented purgatory. The 
suggestion, however, was found among the traditions 
of the Jews, and the vagaries of the pagans, in vari- 
ous forms. It gained upon the belief of the Chris- 
tian Church, however, but slowly. It was never re- 
ceived in the Greek Church, and, according to the 
celebrated historian, Otho, of the twelfth century, 
it was but partially received in the Latin Church in 
his day. The schoolmen found it an ample theme, 
and, passing through their hands, it reached the 
Council of Florence, which, in the twenty-fifth ses- 



270 Lecture XIII. 

sion, A. D., 1438, enacted it into a dogma, which was 
sanctioned by Pope Eugenius. It holds canonical 
dignity under the protection of an ugly anathema in 
the proceedings of the Council of Trent. (Ses. vi., 
Canon 30. See also Ses. xxv.. Decree Concerning 
Purgatory.) 

I have shown you, in a previous lecture, that the 
idea and essence of the doctrine of transubstantia- 
tion originated with Eutyches, as a part of his heresy 
of Monophysitism, or, at least, as an incident of it, 
and that it was condemned by the writers of his 
time, and especially by the Pope Gelasius. This 
was in the fifth century. When Pascasius revived 
the discussion in the ninth centur}% the great names 
of Christendom were against it, such as Bertram and 
Scotus, and the celebrated Archbishop of Mentz ; 
and no one thought of stigmatizing them as heretics 
on that account. Berengarius, after the middle of 
the eleventh centur\-, was, so far as I can learn, the 
first of all the great opposers of transubstantiation 
who was condemned as a heretic, and required to 
recant. In the time of Eutyches transubstantia- 
tion was heresy in the Church of Rome, and in the 
time of Berengarius it was heresy to oppose it. And 
so that Church has gone on, adding dogma to dog- 
ma, until it is positively a task to enumerate them. 
Now, you will obser\-e that the question in this ar- 
gument is not whether these various dogmas are true 
or not. It is simply this : Has the Roman Church 
made that heresy at one time zvhich she did not at a?i^ 
other f Might a man hold and maintain a certain 
belief, and yet be a good, orthodox Romanist, which 
his son after him would be made a heretic for ? 



Errors of 'rm-: FArACv. 271 

But wc need not go so far for examples. I am 
but a young man, and yet it is since I have been 
preaching that the dogma of the Immaculate Con- 
ception of the Virgin Mary has been '* promulgated." 
I remember well that I was on horseback, riding 
along the Boone's Lick road, in St. Charles County, 
when, taking a newspaper out of my saddlebags 
ami glancing over it, I saw the account of the delib- 
erations at Rome by which the Virgin was so much 
honored. And lo ! from that " day and date " any 
question of the fact is heresy. Now I submit, that 
if the Virgin was immaculate in her conception, that 
circumstance has been a fact for near two thousand 
years. And yet to disbelieve it has not provoked 
ecclesiastical anathema against the offender until 
within a very few years past. 

Amongst the many sympathy meetings on the 
Pope's behalf, recently held, I have been struck with 
a portion of the proceedings of one which came off 
in New Orleans. Those who attended the meetinij 
rejoice, because, say they, *' we have enjoyed the 
happiness of living in the age that has witnessed the 
promulgation of the ineffably cherished dogma of 
the Immaculate Conception, and in a country that 
has been especially placed under its protection," and 
*' do invoke, with all our souls, the intercession of 
the Virgin, most pure, holy, and powerful, for him 
who, by proclaiming the Queen of Heaven im- 
maculate in her conception, has added to her 
crown its brightest gem." This is a plain intima- 
tion that the Pope, who has proclaimed the Vir- 
gin immaculate, has some claim upon her in his 
present emergency, and that she may be expected 



2/2 . Lecture XIII. 

to reciprocate the favor. '* One good turn deserves 
another." 

The pontificate of Pio Nono is likely to become 
historical from two circumstances, possibly three — • 
the flight of Gaeta, the promulgation of the Im- 
maculate Conception, and, peradventure^ the dis- 
memberment of the ecclesiastical territories. Be- 
sides this I know nothing in his administration that 
can claim a place in history, except it may be that 
he has erected a college in Rome for the special 
benefit of American youth. The college was dedi- 
cated on the eve of the Immaculate Conception, in 
December last. So great is the Pope's affection for 
our country. We ought, I suppose, to be duly 
grateful to him for placing our country under the 
special protection of his favorite dogma. There is 
one question I have thought of, though, and that 
is, whether the Virgin will feel herself bound to obey 
the Supreme Pontiff, or not ? Will she bestow her 
patronage as he may direct ? It is a question of 
jurisdiction. Has the '' Head of the Church " au- 
thority over the ** Queen of Heaven ? " Perhaps, 
however, she may waive any claim of precedence in 
the case of this particular Pope, to whom she is so 
deeply indebted. But may we hope that she will 
be so complaisant toward his successor ? But by the 
time she has had charge of us for a few years she 
may take a liking to us, and continue her patronage 
voluntarily. Who knows ? Doubtless we have 
ground to congratulate ourselves upon our pros- 
pects for the future. 

But we must not forget the argument. How has 
the basis of membership changed since the time 



Errors of the Papacy. 273 

when men were admitted on the '* Apostles* 
Creed ! " The whole Church of that day would be 
excluded for heresy now. This Church is not the 
same as that. The unity is gone — '' clean gone for- 
ever. 

Put the argument into syllogistic form. Varia- 
tions in the essential doctrine of the Church de- 
stroy its unity — there are variations in the essential 
doctrine of the Roman Church ; therefore the unity 
of the Roman Church is destroyed. The major 
none will controvert ; the minor I have proved ; the 
conclusion is inevitable. Dogmas limiting the area 
of the Church belong to its essence, and any change 
in them breaks the unity of the Church. The dog- 
mas of the Roman Church do define its area, and 
they have often been changed by additions. Her 
unity is an empty assumption, 

2. But there have been not only additions of new 
dogmas, but, also, more palpable variations. The 
Church of Rome has e^iacted and rescinded Ao^va'd,?,. 
I proved to you, in a former lecture, that a Council 
did enact an Arian creed, which was indorsed by a 
Pope. The Council was that of Sirmium, and the 
Pope was Liberius, who is a saint in the Roman cal- 
endar. Again, the Arian creed was displaced and 
declared heretical. Now, take any given Church, 
with a Trinitarian creed, and suppose it to relapse 
into Arianism. Is it the same Church after that 
event as before ? Can it claim historical unity ? No 
more can the Church of Rome. This point requires 
no elaboration. The fact is historical and incontro- 
vertible, and is fatal to the pretensions of " the 
Churchy 



274 Lecture XIII. 

II. Passing from the dogmas^ let us examine the 
spirit of the Church of Rome. Perhaps we shall 
find the boasted unity there. 

But no ; wherever there can be found a center 
around which selfish interests would naturally rally, 
we discover sources of contention and of acrimonious 
wrangling. National ecclesiasticism has almost con- 
stantly arrayed itself against the universal ecclesiasti- 
cism ; the latter asserting prerogatives which the 
former has resisted. Among these contested pre- 
rogatives, that of presentation to benefices and dig- 
nities of the Church, and the appropriations of 
ecclesiastical revenues, have been, perhaps, the 
source of more contention than any other. In these 
contests the '' Holy See " and the national Churches 
have alternately triumphed over each other. Readers 
of Church history will recur especially to the French 
Church as an instance of this strife, perhaps the 
most remarkable of any other. Then each one of 
the monkish orders has its own distinct existence 
and peculiar interests. Nor have the contentions 
of Protestant sects equaled the wrangling of these 
parties, who say, *' I am of St. Dominic, and I of 
St. Benedict, and I of St. Franciscus, and I of St. 
Ignatus Loyola." Among the contentious parties 
of the Corinthian Church, claiming to be of Paul 
and ApoUos, and Cephas or Peter, there was one, 
equally factious in spirit, that profaned the sacred 
name of the Son of God, by vociferating, ''we are 
of Christ." The followers of Ignatius have emulated 
their ancient exemplars in this particular. They 
are Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus. 

It is a well known fact, that when there 2t.x^ parties 



Errors of the Papacy. 275 

of any kind, the nearer they are together the greater 
is the acrimony of their disputes. A divided family 
is the worst of all divided things. Such a house 
can not stand. The ecclesiastical bond that en- 
closes the various orders in the Roman Church, 
brings them into the very relations that aggravate 
their feuds. Their emulations involve conflicting 
interests. It becomes a matter of interest with each 
one to obtain controlling influence in the chief ec- 
clesiastical offices. If, for instance, the Dominicans 
can secure for one of themselves the highest office 
of the Church, they may approach the Vatican 
freely, and obtain large patronage. It is impossible 
for us, at this distance, to understand the compli- 
cated and warring interests that are brought into 
full play at the time of a pontifical election. This 
much we know, however, that all the intrigues and 
maneuvering that are known to political aspirants 
have been often resorted to by candidates for the 
Papacy. Some of the games that have been played 
for this high stake might be studied with advantage 
by the devotee of the chess-board, if not, indeed, 
by gamesters of a less honorable class. In all these 
strifes do you discover '' the unity of the spirit in 
the bond of peace ? " 

The political complications of the Papacy increase 
the occasions of strife and bad temper. The Papacy, 
as you are well aware, is half secular. The Prince- 
Prelate has not only double duty to do, but clashing 
interests to manage. History is familiar with Papal 
armies, paid out of the treasury of the Church, 
commanded by Papal officers, ravaging Papal coun- 
tries, and butchering the children of the Church. 
18 



276 Lecture XIII. 

It was not against heretics that the fighting Pope, 
Julius II., at the opening of the sixteenth century, 
directed his arms, but against'' the faithful." Julius 
often headed his own armies, and, in justice to the 
old hero, I must say, he was one of the best and 
boldest chieftains of his age. He was a perfect lion, 
with a spice of the tiger. In those wars you might 
have seen ecclesiastics of all grades, from the car- 
dinal down, in hostile armies seeking each other's 
blood. Before Ravenna, you might have seen a 
cardinal in the army of the French, foremost in the 
foray, and another in the army of the Pope, less 
ferocious, but quite as brave. I might admire them 
as rival chiefs, hewing their way to fortune with 
their swords, but as representatives of a ^mited 
Church, I gain a lesson from them. This compli- 
cation of the secular vii'&i. the spiritual \\?iS destroyed 
the spirit of unity. Even the timid and feeble 
Pius IX. has afforded us abundant exemplification 
of this fact. He has been compelled to resort to 
arms. And even now he is at feud with the '' eldest 
son of the Church," on political issues. And even 
now, as that affectionate son charges, he is giving 
us an instance of the use of the spiritual sword to 
accomplish political ends. He writes an " Encyclic- 
al letter," under ecclesiastical forms, but for political 
objects. Do you tell me that the orga?iic integrity 
of the Roman Church, which holds in its capacious 
grasp all this quarreling and bloodshed, meets the 
ideal of Christian Church unity ? And the extensive 
sympathy manifested toward the " Holy Father " in 
his present political straits is significant. Of what ? 
Unity of the Church ? Rather of a great political 



Errors of the Papacy. 277 

combination. A distinguished European prelate has 
compared Napoleon III. to a highway robber, and 
the Pope is the victim. The robber demands all 
his valuables, graciously leaving him his life and his 
clothes. Alas ! does the spiritual supreinacy amount 
only to this ? Does it consist merely of the pontifi- 
cal robes ? 

This is only one of many facts of history which 
show that the ^inity of the Papal Church is based 
upon a worldly spirit. '' My kingdom," said Christ, 
** is not of this world : if my kingdom were of this 
world, then would my servants fight." Christ's 
kingdom is spiritual, and that fact is the rallying 
point of its unity. Contrast this with the history 
of the Roman Church ; contrast it with the Crusades^ 
when Papal Christendom poured its countless armies 
into Asia to rescue the tomb of Christ from the 
infidel. "■ If my kingdom were of this world, then 
would my servants fight, that I should not be de- 
livered to the Jews." (John xviii, 36.) But Rome 
perverted that kingdom, and made it " of the world," 
and did fight to deliver from the infidels the tomb 
of that Christ who would not allow his servants to 
fight to prevent himself from being delivered to the 
Jews. The unity of the Papal Church has never 
exhibited itself in so much vigor as in the Crusades 
— those gigantic but fruitless efforts to recover the 
land first sanctified by the cross. But the spirit of 
that unity was false. It was XhQ fighti7tg spirit. It 
was of the world. And the same spirit controls the 
councils of Pius IX. to-day. It is fostered by a 
gorgeous ritual of worship. It clusters around a 
temporal throne. It turns pale at the thought of 



278 Lecture XIII. 

losing political sovereignty. It is ready to fight. 
The Church of Christ united in a contest over the 
possession of political power, and that a power dis- 
tasteful to those who are the subjects of it ! What 
a spectacle ! Unity it is, but it is sheer profanation 
to call it Christian. And the word church has de- 
generated greatly to become the name of an organ- 
ization that is actuated by that spirit. 

On the eve of his crucifixion, our Lord said to his 
disciples, *' Peace I leave with you, my peace I give 
unto you : not as the world giveth give I unto you." 
(John xiv, 27.) The kingdom of God is ** righteous- 
ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Rom. 
xiv, 17; also verse 19.) ''Let us, therefore, follow 
after the things that make for peace." " God hath 
called us to peace." (i Cor. vii, 15.) " For God is 
not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all 
the Churches of the saints." (i Cor. xiv, 33.) And 
if the Church contends^ it is not for secular distinc- 
tion or power, but for the faith, (Jude 3.) That 
organization that has lost the legacy of peace which 
Christ left to his Church, sets up the claim of unity 
on other grounds in vain. '' Love not the world, 
neither the things that are in the world. If any 
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in 
him." (I John ii, 15.) 

From what has been said, you will see the force 
and bearing of the following observations : 

First, the history of the Roman Church has been 
eminently marked by dissensions, quarrels and fight- 
ing — from the wrangling of monks to the wars of 
Popes. 

Secondly, the unity of the Papal Church is, to a 



Errors of the Papacy. 279 

large extent, based on worldly interest, and its de- 
velopment betrays at every step the love of the 
world. 

Thirdly, there is, therefore, no real Christian uni- 
ty. So far from this, where there is unity it is 
carnal, and not of God. As the unity of the Papal 
Church fails in the history of her dogmas^ so also it 
fails in the development of her spirit. 

III. The unity of the Roman Church is main- 
tained by force. You will remember what I said in 
my last lecture, concerning the authority asserted by 
the Council of Trent over such as have been bap- 
tized in their infancy. The Council distinctly or- 
dains that compulsion is to be used in the case of 
the refractory. And so teaches the celebrated Bel- 
larmine, in Book 3, on the Laity, chap. 22. In ad- 
dition to much more of the same kind, he affirms 
that " as the Church has ecclesiastical and secular 
princes, who are her two arms ; so she has two 
swords, the spiritual and material : and, therefore, 
when her right hand is unable to convert a heretic 
with the sword of the Spirit, she invokes the aid of 
the left hand, and coerces heretics with the material 
sword." He assigns as the reason why the Apos- 
tles never invoked the secular arm against heretics, 
that '^ there was no Christian prince whom they 
could call on for aid." But afterward, in Constan- 
tine's time, he says : " The Church called in the aid 
of the secular arm." To show that terror is useful 
in keeping down heres}^ he saj^s that experience 
proves it, '' for the Donatists, Manicheans, and Al- 
bigenses were routed and annihilated by arnis.'^ If 
the peaceful solicitations of the Spirit fail to drazv 



28o Lecture XIII. 

men, they are to be driven in at the point of the 
material sword. 

Nor can the reply be made that these things be- 
long to the past. Because, in the first place, any 
such plea in favor of the Roman Church is unavail- 
ing, in view of the claim of infallibility ; and, in the 
present argument, tinity must extend to all time. 
If she ever did resort to force to maintain her unity, 
she placed it upon false ground, and the argument 
remains good against her contijmity forever. But it 
is not true. The Roman Church still persecutes 
wherever she can. 

In Funchal, Madeira, in January, 1843, Maria 
Joaquina Alves, a woman of blameless life, was torn 
from her family of seven children, thrown into a 
filthy dungeon, confined there a year and three 
months, and then brought to trial and condemned 
to death. For what ? Let the sentence pronounced 
upon her by the judge tell. This sentence bears 
date May 2, 1844. " In view of the answers of the 
jury, and the discussions of the cause, etc., it is 
proved that the accused, Maria Joaquina, perhaps 
forgetful of the principles of the holy religion 
she received in her first years, and to which she 
still belongs, has maintained conversations and ar- 
guments condemned by the Church ; maintaining 
that veneration should not be given to images ; deny- 
ing the real presence of Christ in the sacred host ; the 
Mystery of the most Holy Trinity ; blaspheming 
against the most holy Virgin, the mother of God, 
and advancing other expressions against the doc- 
trines received and followed by the Roman Catholic 
Apostolic Church ; expounding these condemned 



Errors of the Papacy. 281 

doctrines to different persons, thus committing the 
crimes of heresy, blasphemy, etc. I condemn the 
accused, Maria Joaquina, to suffer death, as provided 
in tJie laiv ; the costs of process, etc., to be paid out 
of her goods." This sentence of death is placed 
solely on the ground of ecclesiastical offenses. On 
a hearing in the Appellate Court in Lisbon, the 
penalty was ultimately changed to three months' 
imprisonment and a pecuniary fine. But, on a fail- 
ure of payment, she was confined nearly two years. 
Such an overgrown ecclesiastical establishment is 
dangerous, when it claims the right of maintaining 
its unity by force. See how it must work practi- 
cally. By the multiplication of her dogmas, she 
makes it impossible for multitudes of intelligent 
and sincere minds to receive her creed, while she 
claims the right to compel them. In proportion as 
she extends the area of her creed she increases the 
grounds of disbelief in it, and introduces motives to 
schism. But those who are dissatisfied with her 
dogmas, at least if they were once baptized, must 
be compelled to submit. Don't complain against me 
for that word '^ compelled ;" it is the very word 
used by the great Council of Trent. Then we have 
*' the Church," with a long, unreasonable, unscript- 
ural creed, and an earthly head, and representatives 
or officers, bound to him by oath, scattered all over 
the world, whose duty it is to enforce the creed. 
For your information on the subject, I will give you 
the oath which every Romanist Bishop takes to the 
See of Rome : 

" I, N., elect of the Church of N., from henceforward will be 
faithful and obedient to St. Peter the Apostle, and to the Holy 



282 Lecture XIII. 

Roman Church, and to our Lord, the lord N., Pope N., and 
his successors, canonically coming in. I will neither advise, 
consent nor do anything that they may lose life or member, or 
that their persons may be seized, or hands in any wise laid upon 
them, or any injuries offered to them under any pretence what- 
soever. The counsel which they shall entrust to me withal, by 
themselves, their messengers, or letters, / will not knowingly 
reveal to a?ty to their prejudice. I will help them to defend 
and keep the Roman Papacy, and the royalties of St. Peter, 
saving my order, against all men. The Legate of the Apos- 
tolic See, going and coming, I will honorably treat and help in 
his necessities. The rights, honors, privileges and authorities 
of the Holy Roman Church of our lord the Pope, and his afore- 
said successors, I will endeavor to preserve, defend, increase and 
advance. I will not be in any council, action or treaty, in 
which shall be plotted, against our said lord, and the said 
Roman Church, anything to the hurt or prejudice of their 
persons, right, honor, state or power ; and if I shall know any 
such thing to be treated, or agitated, by any whatsoever, I 
will signify it to our said lord, or to some other by whom it 
may come to his knowledge. The rules of the holy fathers, 
the Apostolic decrees, ordinances, or disposals, reservations, 
provisions and mandates, I will observe with all my might, and 
cause to be observed by others. Heretics, schis?natics, and 
rebels to our said lord or his aforesaid successors, I will to 7ny 
utmost power persecute and oppose." 

This oath will not be denied. Or, if it should, I 
have the proof that it has been admitted by at least 
one respectable prelate in this country, in a public 
debate. 

I do not give this oath as any proof of treasona- 
ble intention on the part of those who have taken 
it. My object is simply to show the nature of the 
tie which binds the Bishops to the Pope. They are 
his officers, regularly sworn in. His mandates they 
are to observe with all their might. They are to 



Errors of the Papacy. 283 

keep his secrets. Anything which may be to his 
prejudice personally or officially, they are to report 
to him. And, under oath, they are to persecute and 
oppose heretics to their utmost power. Now, put 
the most favorable construction upon this document 
that it can possibly bear, and it makes the Bishops a 
police force of the Pope, scattered over the world, 
to guard the interests of the Roman See, to oppose 
its opposers, and to persecute heretics as they may 
have it in their power to do so. You have the 
document : you can judge of its meaning as well 
as I. 

With such an organization as this, complicated with 
political interests, and actuated by a worldly spirit, 
as it is, the Papacy is a power in the world, toward 
which mankind,, to say the least, must be on their 
guard. That there are in this gigantic organization 
many well-meaning individuals, there is no doubt, 
and far be it from me to harm a hair of their heads. 
The personal character either of the Pope, or of 
those constituting his universal police, is not the 
question. I make no personal assault. Let every 
man enjoy the full amount of credit due to his 
personal worth. But the system is a bad one, un- 
scriptural and dangerous. It looks to the subjuga- 
tion of the world, and the world is interested in the 
result. And, in view of the precedents of its his- 
tory, and the acknowledged teaching of its great 
doctors, who can doubt that it will use its power to 
coerce submission to itself whenever and wherever 
it can safely do so ? And who can doubt that the 
Church will ever, on occasion, use its spiritual in- 
terest to advance its civil power, as former Popes 



284 Lecture XIII. 

have often done, and as Pius is now trying to do ? 
And who can doubt that the sworn officers of '' his 
hohness " will almost to a man be found ready to do 
his bidding? Suppose they are conscientious men. 
They will be all the more certain to keep their 
oath. What a game may a skillful and ambitious 
Pope play ! 

The unity whose bond is in official oaths is not 
the unity of Christ. Is it possible that the spirit of 
union in the Papal Church is so feeble that its vari- 
ous parts require to be held together by such a 
ligament ! It is even so. 

Do not understand me to express any fear as to 
the ultimate ascendency of the Papacy. That the 
consequences would, in such an event, be disastrous 
to the interests of humanity, and to individual 
happiness, there can be no doubt. But the day of 
Papal triumph has passed by. There are in the 
world now just a sufficient number of sympathizers 
with an effete system, in the paroxysms of its disso- 
lution, to call the world's attention to the fact, and 
to attest the hopelessness of the downfall. The 
spirit of the world is too far advanced to admit the 
renewal of the '' Dark Ages." At least, I hope and 
believe so. But still, with such a police, by the aid 
of secret instructions, which they are sworn not to 
divulge to his prejudice, the Pope may operate 
with great vigor. By the '' unity of the oath," he 
may make himself felt in the world even yet, to the 
world's detriment and sorrow. And that without 
supposing him such a very bad man. In securing 
his own ends, he may not exactly understand the 
result of his policy upon other interests. 



Errors of the Papacy. 285 

IV. The Romish idea of Church unity is unscript- 
urai. Peter was never constituted head of the 
Church, nor are the Popes so ; for they are not his 
successors ; and if they were, still they would not be 
the head of the. Church, for he was not. Nor is the 
Church of Rome the " mother and mistress " of 
Churches. The Church at Jerusalem was the mother 
of the Churches, and as for any '' mistress," thank 
God, there is none. It follows that connection with 
the See of Rome is by no means the Scriptural con- 
dition of Church unity. Whatever it does or does 
not consist in, it is certainly not in that fact. 

In my lecture on Peter and the Papacy, I ex- 
amined more at large these fundamental proposi- 
tions of the Papal system. 

They are against Scripture and history at once, 
and any idea of the unity of the Church, predicated 
of them, is utterly without foundation. The utmost 
that can be claimed for the Church of Rome is, that 
she has maintained an existence from Apostolic 
times. But how changed is that existence ! How 
changed is her clergy ! From pastors, beloved for 
their works' sake, they have come to be princes 
and lords, dreaded for their power. The clerical 
constitution has grown into enormous dimensions, 
embracing ever so many orders, from the supreme 
Pontiff and lordly Cardinals, down to the dirty and 
worthless mendicant friars. The simple spirit of 
primitive affection is lost, and rival orders are con- 
tending for places and precedence. The beautiful 
faith of Jesus has been hid under an enormous pile 
of unsightly dogmas. Sacramental salvation has 
displaced the efficacious ministry of the word, and 



286 Lecture XIII. 

the candidate for heaven Is compelled to run the 
gauntlet of priestly intervention from the cradle to 
the grave. If the first Bishop of Rome were per- 
mitted to look down upon the city, that he might 
see his successor, do you imagine that he would 
take the man of the Vatican, with the triple crown 
upon his head, for that person ? Inspecting the con- 
stitution, the clerical orders, the teachers and teach- 
ing, and the worship of that city, would he say : 
'' This is indeed the very same Church over which I 
presided eighteen hundred years ago ?" 

The fact of a continuous organization amounts to 
nothing. Is it the SAME organization ? Alas, no ! 
The structure is changed, the doctrine is changed, 
the worship is changed, the spirit is changed — all 
changed. The Christian idea of unity is totally 
wanting. 

The Church of Rome is at once excessively toler- 
ant and excessively intolerant. In her moral re- 
quirements she is ruinously lax, but in enforcing her 
creed she is cruelly rigorous. We know, from our 
own observation, that a man may be habitually 
wicked, so he will but tell the priest all about it once 
in a while, and so live and die in the Roman com- 
munion, and go into eternity with the full benefit 
of the last anointing. But if he shall venture to call 
in question any of the puerile traditions of the 
■' Church," he incurs the anathema and is cut off. 
The area of membership is unscripturally broad in 
one direction, and unscripturally narrow in another. 
A man may be a profane swearer, and remain in the 
Church. But his neighbor, who believes in Christ 
and worships him, who receives all the doctrines of 



Errors of the Papacy. 287 

Holy Scripture, and leads a devout and holy life, 
walking in communion with God, is excommunicated 
because he can not receive the unscriptural dogma 
of purgatory. The unity of Christ embraces the 
latter, and cuts off the former. The unity of Rome 
reverses the order. It cuts off the latter, and re- 
ceives the former. 

From all these facts and arguments you plainly 
see how utterly at fault the Roman idea of Chris- 
tian Church unity is. Any claim to be the true 
Church, predicated of her unity, is false and pre- 
posterous. It must be a Christian, Scriptural unity 
on which such a claim is based, or the claim is not 
valid. The unity of the Church of Rome is as dis- 
tinct from the unity of Christ as that of Odd-Fellow- 
ship is. Mere unity amounts to nothing. It must 
be a unity on Christian principles. That the Roman 
Church has not. Her claim is not valid. She fails 
in the very essence of the argument. 

In her dogmas she fails of historical unity, and 
in her spirit she fails of actual unity. In her spirit 
the failure is seen in her factions and wrangling; and 
even in those matters in which she is one with her- 
self, the spirit is not Christian, but political, over- 
bearing, and worldly. This appears in the very 
structure of her ecclesiasticism, in the coercion by 
which she maintains her unity, in her tenacious hold 
upon political dominion, and in her very terms of 
communion. She claims to be a u-nit, and therefore 
the true Church. But her claim of unity fails in 
essential facts, and where she presents unity it is 
not only wanting in Christian elements, but is essen- 
tially unchristian. Her plea of unity, therefore, 



288 Lecture XIII. 

avails her nothing, but, on the contrary, turns against 
her, and destroys her. For she is organized upon 
an unscriptural and unchristian basis ; the very pil- 
lars of her support are anti-christian ; and she must 
be taken to pieces and reconstructed upon another 
idea, before she can be properly Christian. 

Next Sunday evening I will present you the true 
idea of Christian Church unity. 



Errors of the Papacy. 289 



LECTURE XIV. 

UNITY OF THE CHURCH — THE TRUE IDEA. 

" For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the 
members of that one body, being many, are one body : so, also, is 
Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and 
have been all made to drink into one Spirit," — I COR. xii, 12, 13. 

THIS evening we are to consider the trtie idea 
of Christian Church unity. The Church of 
Christ is indeed one. " I beheve in the holy Catho- 
Hc Church ; " not the Roman CathoUc, but the Jioly 
Cathohc Church. The allegation that Protestants 
disallow the indivisible unity of the Church is false. 
We maintain it most strenuously and devoutly. It 
is interwoven with our profoundest convictions, and 
we read it in the fundamental teachings of Scripture. 
It is " part and parcel " of the very system of salva- 
tion, and stands or falls with the Christian religion. 
The question is, In what does that unity consist ? I 
have examined the claims of the Roman Church in 
this particular, and found her wanting. Let us see 
now if we can ascertain the true idea. 

Every unity, except it be mere atomic unity 
which is a mere point, must have 2i center. In other 
words, a unity which takes in several individuals, 
supposes some given fact toward which the various 
individuals stand in a common relation. States are 
formed upon the idea of government. Every asso- 



290 Lecture XIV. 

ciation is organized upon some idea, either of mutual 
support, moral improvement, pecuniary advantage, 
or whatever it may be ; or it clusters about some 
person^ whose character or projects attract others to 
him. The same is true in mechanics, and, indeed, 
in physics generally. Every unity embracing indi- 
viduals has, so to speak, a rallying point. This 
rallying point, or point of common attraction in the 
Roman Church, as I showed you a week ago, is the 
Papacy. The Pope is the head of the Church, and 
whatever of homogeneity there is in that Church 
proceeds from that and its correlate ideas. 

As the opposite of this, we have the indubitable 
and ever glorious affirmation of Holy Scripture that 
Christ is the only head of the Church, in heaven 
and on earth. He has appointed no deputy on 
earth. Let those who assert it give the proof. I 
challenge it. There is not a word, not an intima- 
tion, to that effect in the Word of God. Not one. 
Where is the law constituting Peter, or the Pope, 
or any other individual, head of the Church ? Not 
in all the Bible. Can the hypothesis be for a mo- 
ment entertained that this chief element in the 
structure of the Church would have been passed by 
in utter silence by our Lord and all the sacred 
writers ? And yet even the advocates of this theory, 
with all their learning and skill, can find no single 
place where such a thing is stated. By a most as- 
tounding perversion, they interpret one passage as 
teaching that Peter is the rock on which the Church 
is founded ; but they do not so much as pretend 
one which shows him to be the head of the Church. 
Christ is the sole '^ Head of the Church." (See 



Errors of the Papacy. 291 

Eph. V, 23 ; i, 22 ; iv, 1 5 ; i Cor. xii, 12, 13; and many 
other places.) Around him, in his offices, in his re- 
deeming work, and in his saving grace is the Church 
associated. Connection with him is the essential 
fact of unity. Separation from him is schism ; to 
deny his saving truth is heresy. 

Let us investigate this matter somewhat thor- 
oughly. We shall find the following several facts 
involved in connection with Christ : 

I. Faith. By this I do not mean objective faith, 
or the truth- believed ; but faith subjectively con- 
sidered. Nor do I mean a mere conviction. Per- 
sonal faith, in the Christian meaning of the word, 
embraces much more than the mere recognition 
and admission of religious truth. Another element 
enters into it, which is expressed by the word trust. 
Christ is the object of this trust. He proposes him- 
self as the only Saviour. The incalculable interests 
of the soul are at stake. He proposes to secure 
them. He solemnly assures us that he is able and 
altogether disposed to take our souls, guilty and 
corrupt as they are, and become responsible for 
their safety. He will remove their guilt and purge 
away their defilement. There is none other in earth 
or heaven that can do it. If we withhold ourselves 
from him, destruction is inevitable. The soul turns 
away from every other hope, and entrusts itself, 
with all its interests and perils, to him. The process 
is this : In deep repentance we admit the Christian 
doctrine, believe that Christ is the Saviour of men, 
consent that he shall be our Saviour, and confide in 
him. This personal faith in Christ (which presup- 
poses the belief of Christian doctrine and repentance) 
19 



2g2 Lecture XIV. 

secures to the subject of it all the results of the 
atonement. '^ But as many as receive him, to them 
gave he power to become the sons of God, cvoi to 
tJion that believe on Jiis navie!" (John i, 12.) 

Reeeivitig Christ, and believing on his 7iajne, are, 
in this passage, synonymous phrases. And, indeed, 
at this point, as at a thousand others, religious truth 
shows itself at one with all other truth. Faith is 
the viincTs reeeption of an object. Just so, believing 
on Christ is receiving him. Not the general admis- 
sion that he is the Saviour of the world, but faith in 
him as he is proposed to each one — as a personal 
Saviour. Thus received, Christ always comes into 
the soul, and when he comes, he brings salvation 
with him. " To them gave he power to become the 
sons of God." *^ He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life." " He that believeth on him is not 
condemned." (John iii, 18, 36.) There is no delay 
for priestly manipulation. Faith joins the soul to 
Christ, and in him it has justification and life. 

Now here is the basis of that classification in 
which the Church stands apart from the world, and 
at this point we come naturally to examine — 

2. The second fact involved in this union with 
Christ, which is the new birth. 

To understand this great fact of the Christian re- 
ligion in its bearing upon the topic now in discus- 
sion, it will be necessary to recur to our Saviour's 
presentation of it in the third chapter of John's Gos- 
pel. Nicodemus stands before the Son of God, and 
recognizes him as the " TEACHER." And such he 
is — THE world's INSTRUCTOR. At once he enters 
upon his office. He communicates his DOCTRINE. 



Errors of the Tapacy. 293 

It is the truth which the world has been laboring to- 
ward for thousands of years, but never found. Philos- 
ophy is outdone. The devotees of truth had looked 
for this divine verity ; they had strained their eyes 
to see it, but it was beyond their vision. Prophets 
alone had seen it, and its shining from afar had illu- 
minated their pages. Holy men had rejoiced in it 
from the beginning. But the world had not been 
fully taught it. He who was the Word — the Wis- 
dom — the Light — was to announce it and define it 
now. 

With what pomp of words would any teacher, not 
divine, have announced such a sublime proposition ! 
But God always does his work without parade. It 
is littleness that makes a great ado. Its prepara- 
tions are more conspicuous than its achievements. 
What scaffolding would a finite architect prepare if 
he had a world to build ! But God only said Be, 
and the divine monosyllable built the universe. And 
he describes his work to his creatures with the same 
simplicity. '' In the beginning God created the 
heavens and the earth." So Christ describes the 
new creation, the heavenly birth. '^ Ye must be 
born again." 

But why must we be born again ? Because Christ 
came to establish a kingdom upon earth, the citizens 
of which must have a higher style of life than the 
natural. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh." 
By the natural birth men enjoy a life adapted to 
the natural world — to its civil and social and phys- 
ical condition. But Christ's " kingdom is not of 
this world." It is spiritual. '■'' That which is born 
of the Spirit is spirit." *' Verily, verily, I say unto 



294 Lecture XIV. 

thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
kingdom of God." " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he 
cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Here is 
Christ's kingdom, or, if you please, his Church ; and 
man must undergo a spiritual birth, producing a 
spiritual life, in order to enter into it. And this is 
not an arbitrary arrangement, but an obvious ne- 
cessity ; for only thus can he be assimilated to the 
nature of that kingdom. Only thus can he become 
adapted to its conditions. 

Here we have, then, a second element in the unity 
of the Church — a common life in all its members, 
proceeding from Christ, by the Holy Spirit, through 
whose efficient agency they are " born again," and 
thus become " children of God by faith in Jesus 
Christ." It is this great work of grace that ** purges 
their consciences from dead works to serve the liv- 
ing God." Christ " manifests himself to them as 
he does not to the world." He dwells with them. 
And his prayer to the Father is realized in them : 
'' That they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in 
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us : 
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 
And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given 
them ; f/iat they may be one, even as we are one .• I in 
them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect 
in one ; and that the world may know that thou hast 
sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved 
me." (John xvii, 21-23.) 

3. A third fact involved in connection with Christ 
is the reception of his doctrine. He says, referring 
to his disciples, " I have given them thy word." 



Errors of the Papacy. 295 

(John xvii, 14.) And in verse 8, " I have given 
them the words which thou gavest me ; and they 
have received them." 

It is alleged that Protestants have no dogmas. 
Then the Bible has none. For " the Bible, and the 
Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants." Who 
enunciates the great doctrines of the gospel with 
more distinctness and emphasis than Protestant 
ministers ? The time wasted by Romish priests up- 
on the worse than silly legends of the saints, and 
other such unscriptural declamation, is devoted by 
preachers of the gospel to dogmatic theology and 
hortatory discourse. That the Christian doctrine 
may be kept pure is their special care and solicitude. 
For this purpose they have repudiated all human 
standards, and keep to the word of God alone. 
They allow it to dogmatize. And the wonder is, 
that, with all the diversity of mental endowment, 
there should be such perfect consent. Erratic sects 
there are, no doubt ; but Rome, even with the help 
of the Inquisition, could not wholly prevent that, in 
her palmiest days. Some " will give heed to seduc- 
ing spirits and doctrines of devils," in spite of the 
Bible. And they will pervert the Bible as sadly as 
Rome does. Their account is with God. It is not 
mine to judge them. But " the foundation of God 
standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth 
them that are his." "■ If any man will do my Fa- 
ther's will," said our Lord, '' he shall know of the 
doctrine." In the '' Kingdom of God," the Word 
of God is received, and his people are at one in ref- 
erence to the saving truth. 

Nor is this unity of doctrine incompatible with 



296 Lecture XIV. 

speculative difYerences. My Presbyterian brother, 
behind me in the pulpit, for instance, agrees with 
me in the Christian docrine. At some points there 
is a speculative divergence, but not a dogmatic. For 
instance, he theorizes in reference to the relation of 
the Divine foreknowledge and human volition in one 
way, and I in another. He supposes that foreknowl- 
edge and foreordination are necessarily correlative ; 
I suppose they are not necessarily so. In my theory, 
events with the production of which the human will 
is concerned are not foreordained ; in his, they are. 
And so, perhaps, we may theorize differently in 
many cases. But, after all, we come back to the 
same saving doctrine ; the trinity of the Godhead, 
the depravity of man, the atonement, salvation by 
grace through faith, the necessity of repentance and 
a godly life, the final judgment, and the eternity of 
future rewards and punishments. In short, when we 
begin to speculate, we are liable to take divergent 
paths at every step, but when we dogmatize from 
the Bible in reference to saving truth, we are at one. 
4. The Church is one in its submission to the law 
of Christ. In that fact, God's people are separate 
from the world, and one with Christ, and with 
each other. " Wherefore come out from among 
them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean 
thing ; and I will receive you, and will be a Father 
unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, 
saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. vi, 17, 18.) They 
are '' a peculiar people, zealous of good works." 
(Titu's ii, 14.) If any profess to be the Lord's peo- 
ple who have not this characteristic, shame on them. 
'' If any man love me, he will keep my words ; and 



Errors of the Papacy. 297 

my Father will love him, and we will come unto 
him, and make our abode with him." (John xiv, 23.) 
" For this is the love of God, that we keep his com- 
mandments ; and his commandments are not griev- 
ous." (i John V, 3.) 

Obedience to the law of Christ is the outgrowth 
of the inward, spiritual life. It is thus that it de- 
clares itself. Just as every other species of life has 
its appropriate expression, so has this, also. Life 
produces activity. This life of the soul has its activ- 
ity in holy living, in godly works. This is a most 
palpable basis of classification. The subjects of 
Christ's kingdom are one in obedience to its laws, 
and in this they are distinguished from all other 
men. 

5. Christians are " partakers of the Divine nature." 
(2 Pet. i, 4.) What is that nature ? '' God is love." 
(John iv, 8, 16.) Love is not merely a divine attri- 
bute ; it is rather the essence of God's moral nature. 
His moral attributes are so many expressions of 
love in certain aspects, or movements of it toward 
certain objects. Truth is love speaking the things 
which are good ; justice is love protecting the inter- 
ests of the universe ; and so of the rest. Love is at 
the bottom of it all. ^' God is love!' The more I 
think of this, the more I see its truth and beauty. 
It is the divine philosophy which harmonizes all 
things. The attributes are not at war with each 
other, but have a common center, and work to the 
same results. 

Now, look at this. We are " made partakers of 
the Divine nature." " God is love." Here you have 
the true religion defined. It is expressed again by 



298 Lecture XIV. 

the apostle, who says " The love of God is shed 
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is 
given unto us." (Rom. v, 5.) This is in keeping with 
the declaration of our Saviour. '' Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first 
and great commandment. And the second is like 
unto it : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
(Matt, xxii, 37-39.) And further: ''On these two 
commandments hang all the law and the prophets." 
(Verse 40.) The law is the expression of God's na- 
ture, which is love. We are made partakers of the 
Divine nature, and then the law of the Lord is our 
delight. '' How love I thy law," is the heart-felt ex- 
clamation of every one that is born of God. '' God 
is love ; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in 
God, and God in him." (i John iv, 16.) 

Now, your own consciousness will tell you that 
love is that principle which attracts and produces 
unity. It is spiritual gravitation. God is the infi- 
nite source of it, and by it binds all holy natures to 
himself, and to each other. Jesus, '' God manifest 
in the flesh," sends the spirit of his love into the 
heart of every true believer, and, touched by this 
magnet, they gravitate toward himself. They love 
God ; they love each other ; they are ONE IN HIM. 

This is the supreme principle of Christian unity. 
Hatred r^/^/i"/ \o\& attracts and unites. The unity 
of the Church is not an organism — a corporation. 
It is not in forms and transmissions by human 
hands ; not in ecclesiastical regulations and outward 
connection with a given See. It is " the unity of 
the spirit in the bond of peace." It is by this that 



Errors of the Papacy. 299 

the Church is made known among men. " By this 
shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye 
have love one to another." (Johnxiii, 35.) Tell me 
not that it is by an immense organization that the 
true people of God are known. It is not by such 
means that God demonstrates his work to man- 
kind. It is by no such test that his Church is 
known. One distinct declaration of Christ is worth 
a thousand times more than all the disquisitions in 
the world. 

" By THIS shall all men know that ye are my dis- 
ciples : if ye have LOVE ONE TO ANOTHER." Blessed 
Jesus, we thank thee. And '' by this we know that 
we love the children of God, when we love God and 
keep his commandments'' (i John v, 2.) No man, 
by any ecclesiastical authority on earth, shall de- 
fraud me of my right and my duty to recognize and 
honor the " disciples of Christ," wherever I see 
those who love his children, and prove it by loving 
him and keeping his commandments. From the 
Vatican, or from the midst of councils, men may 
speak and anathematize against the declaration of 
my Saviour till the world goes to pieces. I will be- 
lieve him, and I will discredit aiiy authority that 
contradicts his words. 

I have set forth the chi^^ facts in which the unity 
of the Church consists. First, a common personal 
faith in Christ ; secondly, a common life, produced 
by spiritual regeneration ; thirdly, a common recep- 
tion of the saving truth, or "" sound doctrine ;" fourth- 
ly, common obedience to Christ's law ; and finally, 
as comprising all the rest, the love of God, dwelling 
in each believer, and joining the whole In a divine 



300 Lecture XIV. 

bond. To these must the Church appeal in vindi- 
cation of her truth. These are her scriptural marks. 
To these, and especially the last, men are directed 
as the certain test. In these facts we are directed 
to find the Church, and never, never in the fact of a 
corporate existence. I am willing to leave it to the 
good sense and intelligence of my audience and of 
mankind. I fear no investigation. Truth shines all 
the brighter for the friction of such a test. Take my 
statements to the Bible ; try them at the tribunal 
from which there is no appeal ; subject them to the 
most rigid cross-questioning ; and if they speak not 
as ''the oracles of God," repudiate them. 

Having presented, sufficiently for the argument 
up to this point, the more direct Scripture doctrine 
on this subject, let us now turn to the illustrations 
of the unity of the Church, which the Bible gives : 

First. Our Saviour, as I have shown in former 
lectures, affirms of himself that he is the rock on 
which the Church is built. (Matt, xvi, i8.) In i Cor. 
iii, lo, 17, the apostle uses the same figure. Allud- 
ing to his own work as the pioneer of Christianity 
among the Gentiles, he says : ''' I have laid t J le found- 
ation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every 
man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For 
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
which is Jesus Christ." Men, he goes on to say, 
build on this foundation, using materials which he 
represents by " gold, silver, precious stones, wood, 
hay, stubble." But the work is to be tried by fire. 
Those who build on the foundation shall be saved ; 
though if the material which they have used in build- 
ing be such as will not stand the fire, it shall be 



Errors of the Papacy. 301 

burned up, and they shall suffer that loss. But if 
the material be such as fire will not consume, they 
shall not only be saved, but '^ shall receive a re- 
ward," also, in the preservation of their work. Surely 
no illustration could more plainly present the fact 
that building on Christ is the essential point. Estab- 
lished on him, men are secure. The gates of hell 
cannot prevail against any man that builds on that 
immovable foundation. There is, also, a solemn 
warning against the use of bad or unsuitable ma- 
terial. The consequences are sad. What this poor 
material is, concerns not the present argument. The 
fact that Christ is the only foundation, and thus the 
center of unity to the Church, lies on the surface of 
the text. Every brick, and beam, and shingle in a 
house has a direct relation to the foundation, and it 
is that relation which preserves their unity as a 
whole. The foundation gone, and all the parts are 
scattered. They lose their relation to each other; 
their unity is gone. How beautifully and forcibly 
this illustrates all that I have said in the preceding 
portion of this lecture. Christ is the center, the 
rallying point of Christian unity, and all that are 
united to him are by that very fact united to each 
other. "■ Upon this rock I will build my Church." 
Secondly. Our Lord compares himself to a vine, 
of which his people are the branches'. (John xv, 
I, 8.) In Romans xi, 15, 24, the apostle compares 
the Church to an olive tree, of which he says the 
Jews were the natural branches, and they being 
broken off, the Gentile converts were grafted in. 
The idea in these two places is that of unity iii 
Christ. And more, the Jews were broken off by un- 



302 Lecture XIV. 

belief, and the Gentiles were grafted in by faith. 
Faith is the immediate act by which the union of 
the branch with the stock is effected. This is the 
engrafting act. And this agrees exactly with what 
I have said before. True unity is the union with 
Christ by faith ; that union with him effected, the 
New Birth is realized, and life flows from him to the 
engrafted member. He is the center of union, and 
the source of vitality. And the unity is not merely 
between Christ and the individual members, but is 
predicable of all the members aggregately. They 
are united with each other in virtue of their union 
with him, just as all the branches of a tree are united 
to each other by means of their connection with the 
stock. The remotest twig is of a parcel with the 
whole tree. The same life is infused into every part. 
The same nature pervades the whole. The trunk 
is olive, and the youngest branch — the minutest twig 
— is olive. It is one, not only in the aggregation, 
but in life and nature. So of the Church. We are 
*' made partakers of the Divine nature." ''Christ is 
our life.'" The Church is one aggregately: one in 
life, one in nature, one in Christ. This beautiful 
illustration agrees precisely with the view which I 
have presented of the unity of the Church. 

Thirdly. An illustration of the unity of the Church, 
often given in the Epistles, is found in the living 
human body. The Church is called, in so many 
words, ''the body of Christ." (Eph. iv, 12.) In 
verses 15 and 16 he speaks of Christians as growing 
"■ up into him in all things, which is the head, even 
Christ, from whom the whole body, fitly joined to- 
gether, and compacted by that which every joint 



Errors of the Papacy. 303 

supplieth, according to the effectual working in the 
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body 
unto the edifying of itself in love." (See also Rom. 
xii, 4, 5 ; I Cor. xii, 12, 28 ; Eph. i, 23, and v, 23, 30 ; 
and Col. i, 24.) In the last of these places the apostle 
speaks of Christ's body, " which is the Church." 
From these passages it will be readily seen that 
the unity of the Church consists of the very facts 
which I have before indicated. Christ, ^' as the 
head," is the center and source of the union, from 
which vitality, and consciousness, and identity pro- 
ceed through the entire body. Indeed, the apostle, 
in the text cited above, uses the precise language 
which best expresses my meaning. From the head, 
Christ, '' the whole body, fitly joined together and 
compacted by that which every joint supplieth^ accord- 
ing to the effectual working in the measure of every 
part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying 
of itself in love!' The remarks which I made in 
reference to the illustration of the vine and the olive 
tree, are, many of them, applicable here ; but this 
illustration involves some further facts, chiefly grow- 
ing out of the conscious life of the body. It ex- 
presses with great force the principal fact of Chris- 
tian unity, to which I have already called your at- 
tention. I mean LOVE. '' Whether one member 
suffer, all the members suffer with it ; or one mem- 
ber be honored, all the members rejoice with it." 
(i Cor. xii, 26.) Let but the most insignificant 
member of the body receive the slightest injury, and 
an instant participation of the pain is realized 
throughout. And every part of the whole system 
demands its portion of the enjoyment which comes 



304 Lecture XIV. 

to any member. The distribution of the fortunes, 
prosperous or adverse, of each separate part amongst 
the whole, illustrates, most truthfully and beauti- 
fully, the divine love that animates and unites the 
Church. '' Rejoice with those that do rejoice, and 
weep with those that weep." Every member of 
the body serves the rest. The feet walk not for 
themselves alone, but for the whole body; the 
hands labor for the whole ; the eyes see and the 
ears hear for the whole. And so of all. What 
serves one serves all. So in the body of Christ, 
each lives for all — each has his individual duties, 
and devotes himself to them ; but the good there- 
from resulting is not for his separate behoof. 

And in further confirmation of this view of the 
spiriUial against the organic idea of the unity of the 
Church, see the 15th verse of this same chapter. 
*' For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, 
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be 
bond or free ; and have been all made to drink in- 
to one Spirit." The act of union on our part is 
faith, and on the part of God it is the baptism of 
his spirit. By faith we join ourselves to him, and he, 
suffusing us with his Spirit, consummates the union. 
*' By one Spirit," the Holy Spirit of God, *' we are 
baptized into one body." 

Indeed, the Bible leaves us no room for doubt. 
"The unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," is 
that which the Holy Scriptures insist on. The 
plain statements of the doctrine are all to this effect. 
And the illustrations of the house, the vine, the 
olive tree, the body, all consent in exhibiting a 
direct union with Christ by the Spirit. A unity 



Errors of the Papacy. 305 

based on Papal or prelatical succession is out of the 
question. The Bible ignores it. The genius of Chris- 
tianity disowns it. It fosters vain pretentions, and 
unchristian exclusiveness. It invents tests of com- 
munion unknown to the Word of God and adverse 
to its spirit and its plainest teaching. It is, therefore, 
not only 2^;/scriptural, but ^;^^/-scriptural. It is hurt- 
ful, as it repels and cuts off many most worthy 
bodies of believers, and as it places so much stress 
upon what is outward as often to turn the mind 
away from the inward and spiritual. 

These exclusionists are schismatical. They sepa- 
rate themselves from the one universal Church. 
By claiming exclusive catholicity, they make them- 
selves essentially uncatholic. The Catholic Church, 
truly so called, is made up of all congregations of 
believers who worship and serve God according to 
the Scriptures. From vast multitudes of these the 
exclusionists separate themselves. The sin of 
schism is upon them. '* The Temple of the Lord, 
the Temple of the Lord, are we," say they, when, 
behold, it is a temple of their own building. And 
every body must fit the bedstead which Procrustes 
has adjusted to his own length. What a crime 
against truth and charity, to depart so far from the 
divine standard, and then anathematize all who will 
not be guilty of the same departure ! 

The true unity is not outward and formal, but 
inward and spiritual. It is not shadow, but substance. 
It is the linking of intelligent being into the chain 
of purity, and truth, and love. Deity infuses him- 
self into human souls, and makes them one. 

Now let us consider the advantages connected 



3o6 LixriRF \1\'. 

with the true, scriptural \ low o{ Christian Church 
unity. 

I. It allows legitimate liberty of thought. Ac- 
tivity and freedom of thought are necessary to the 
world. To be healthy, mind must have play. Con- 
tine it, and it niust develop out of symmetr}\ 
Truth appeal's in an infinite variety of relations and 
combinations. And there are exhaustless varieties 
oi' mental endowment adapted to investig^ation in 
the varied fields of thought. Let them work. 
There is enough for all to do. Speculative theology 
alone is exhaustless. Starting from the fundamental 
and palpable truths of revelation, interminable fields of 
thought open in every direction. But, you say, liberty 
in exploring them opens the door for error. "It must 
needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by 
whom they come." h"or the use or the abuse of 
thought men are aiYOUfjtablc^ as for that of any 
other faculty. If they refuse to abide by the dis- 
tinct aveniients of revelation, the\- do so at their 
peril. Christian unity only requires that they abide 
by these. So long as the anchor grapples th^r^, 
they are safe from fatal error. Obeying the check 
o( e\ ident truth in science, and the plain teaching 
of the Bible in religion, the mind requires liberty in 
speculation. In the use of that liberty the world will 
make its way to nobler views, and a healthier men- 
tal state as the ages advance. In the unity of love, 
and pure doctrine, and godly living, men may cor- 
dially agree to differ in thing-s indifferent or conject- 
ural. They can ** love as brethren," although they 
take opposite routes in speculative exploration. 

By extending the dogmatic area, Rome has put 



Errors of the Papacy. 307 

thought into a strait-jacket. Men must think 
just as certain theologians have heretofore deter- 
mined, and as the prelates now permit. The theo- 
logical surveyors, with chain and compass, have 
marked the " metes and bounds " within which mind 
may exercise itself. And there is no unity where 
the line is overstepped. Within the circle unity 
may be sinned against ; the spirit of it may be tram- 
pled. That is to be borne with. But beyond the 
arbitrary circle none must dare to go. 

Where has mind wrought its great achievements 
within the last few centuries ? In Austria ? In Spain? 
In Italy? In Mexico? In the South American 
Republics ? It has been in Protestant Germany, and 
Great Britain, and the United States of America. 
France has taken the lead of Papal countries, but 
it is in that country that the ecclesiastical trammel 
is less regarded than in the others. And besides, the 
commonwealth of thought in France owes a large 
debt to Protestants. Her achievements are chiefly 
in some of the sciences, in philosophy, and in polite 
literature. In Biblical criticism Germany and En- 
gland have outstripped all competitors. In the sci- 
ence of government and the useful arts, our own 
country stands unrivaled. Protestant mind leads 
the world to-day, as it has done for some ages past. 

" Live, and let live." Think, and let think, and 
help think. Only be humble, and love God first, 
and love the truth for God's sake. Thus acting, 
you will never endanger the '' unity of the Spirit." 

2. On the Scripture theory the Church is relieved 

of the hopeless task of tracing an organic history, 

unbroken in every particular. All that is required 
20 



3o8 Lecture XIV. 

of her is to vindicate \\qy prescftt clahn by scriptural 
tests. 

If, indeed, a continued organization from the 
apostles down, with a regular succession of ordina- 
tions, unbroken at any point, be an absolute requi- 
site of the true Church, then, in order to establish 
the fact, there must be explicit history at every 
point. If history leaves a gap at any given point, 
then the world can never know but her identity be- 
came forfeit at that time. Faith is thus transferred 
from the Bible to history. And if that witness is 
silent anywhere along the periods of the past, then 
faith fails right there. 

In the pretended Roman line of succession, the 
history is wanting at the very outset. It is not in 
proof that Peter ever was at Rome. The circum- 
stances are against it. Luke, the historian of those 
times, fails to state it. And his silence amounts to 
proof against it, on the Roman theory. There are 
circumstances which give silence a world of meaning, 
and I know of no case more fully in point than this. 
By the Roman theory the fact of Peter's residence 
at Rome, as the supreme head of the Church, was 
the most important fact of the times. A single 
sentence from Luke in the Acts of the Apostles 
would have settled it beyond cavil for all coming 
time. But he is silent. No explanation of his si- 
lence can be given on earth, except that Peter was 
never at Rome, or at least not in that high character. 
There is no cotemporaneous history attesting it. 
For many, many years history is silent. After ages 
profess to have found a tradition to the effect that 
Pjter and VavX founded the Chnrch at Rome. And 



Errors of the Papacy. 309 

from this dubious tradition (which, indeed, is dis- 
proved by Scripture, for we know that the Church 
at Rome was founded before Paul was ever there) 
the whole Papal theory and history have been man- 
ufactured. 

And then the tradition confuses the succession for 
some ages. Not less than eight different lines have 
been given at the first end, as follows : 

1. Linus, Anacletus, Clement, Euarestes, Alex- 
ander. 

2. Peter, Linus, Cletus, Clement, Anacletus. 

3. Linus, Anacletus, Clement, Sixtus, Alexander. 

4. Peter, Anacletus, Clement, Alexander, Evar- 
istus. 

5. Linus, Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alex- 
ander. 

6. Peter, Clement, Linus, Cletus, Alexander. 

7. Peter, Linns, Cletus, Evaristus, Alexander. 

8. Peter, Linus, Cletus or Anacletus, Clement, 
Evaristus. 

Such is the confusion through which the ecclesi- 
astical genealogy of the Popes is traced back to the 
place where Peter ought to be. They cannot even 
tell with any certainty whether Cletus be another 
name for Anacletus, or whether the two names be- 
long to as many individuals. The history which 
proves (!) the succession is only tradition, and a tra- 
dition which crosses its own path eight thnes ! Pe- 
ter is supposed to have been at Rome, and some one 
of these lines of succession /r^^^^^^^^/y came after him. 
Alas for the Church whose very existence depends 
on such proof as this ! 

Besides this there are many grave irregularities 



3IO Lecture XIV. 

in the Papal succession. Some of their writers enu- 
merate twenty-two schisms in the Papacy, some 
twenty-six, and Protestants reckon twenty-nine. 
By a schism you will understand two or more per- 
sons claiming to be Pope at the same time. Some- 
times there have been three rival Popes, all contend- 
ing for Peter's chair at once. These are facts which 
no intelligent Papist will deny. At one time there 
was no Pope in Rome for seventy years. For that 
period the Papal residence was at Avignon. Be- 
sides this, if the Pope be the head of the Church, 
then the Church is always headless for some days 
after the death of an incumbent. 

Rome makes faith in the Church dependent upon 
the assurance that a continuous organization has 
been maintained by a regular succession of Popes, 
and then is thrown upon conjecture to establish the 
succession, at least in the first five links. Faith in 
the Church resting on conjecture I What an incon- 
gruity! What a contradiction! Conjectural faith? 
Let them produce cotemporaneous records from the 
first, showing that Peter was Pope, and then contin- 
uing ^to record the succession at every stage. When 
that is done, they may, with some degree of confi- 
dence, ask the credence of mankind. But bare prob- 
ability is a foundation altogether too frail to sup- 
port such a structure as they assert the Church to 
be. But in this case the probability is on the other 
side. 

On the contrary, the scriptural proof is clear and 
accessible. Any given association has but to assure 
itself of holding the true saving doctrine, with the 
scriptural ordinances ; of maintaining the true wor- 



Errors of the Papacy. 311 

ship and the Christian life ; of holding to Christ by 
faith, and enjoying the Spirit of his presence. This 
establishes their claim to a place in the great Chris- 
tian family. They are of the body of Christ. They 
are one with his people in all places and ages. One, 
not by arbitrary identity of a formal external organ- 
ism, but in the actual identity of fact and spirit. 
They are grafted into the good olive tree by faith. 
*' By one Spirit they are baptized into one body." They 
are under no necessity of giving '' heed to fables and 
endless genealogies^ which ministers questions rather 
than godly edifying." (i Tim. i, 4.) Questions of 
ecclesiastical genealogy give them no perplexity. 
They are careful only to secure their present con- 
nection with '^ the Head, which is Christ," well 
knowing that that will secure their identity with the 
whole body. They seek only to be such a people 
as the Bible describes, divinely assured that in this 
is the true unity. They are at one with all the con- 
gregations of God's people. And if any man comes 
bustling along, and scolds them, saying, '^ I forbid 
you, because you follow not with us,' they remem- 
ber that Christ rebuked such officious exclusiveness 
when he saw the buddings of it among his disciples. 
" Forbid them not." 

3. This '^ unity of the Spirit " dates from a far 
more remote antiquity than the frigid unity of or- 
ganism does, even allowing all that it claimsf or it- 
self. At the outside it is not two thousand years old. 
It is, also, much more extended. It takes in the 
children of God in all lands. This is the ^' Catholic 
Church." It goes back to the family of Adam, 
embraces the patriarchs, illustrious and obscure, and 



312 Lecture XIV. 

on down in every age, in every land, it opens its 
arms to the true worshipers of God. It encompasses 
Abel, the bleeding victim of whose altar attested 
his faith in the woman's seed, and sweeps its ample 
circle around the last man whose faith shall present 
before the Father the dying Victim of our sins. 
Greek and Roman, Armenian and American, Ethi- 
opian and Hindoo, wherever the word of Christ has 
come by any means^ and men have believed on his 
name, and associated themselves to observe his or- 
dinances and his will — all, all are embraced. A 
rigid organism is necessarily exclusive, and, therefore, 
uncatholic and schismatical. On the contrary, the 
*' unity of the Spirit" is, in its very nature, catholic 
and all-embracing. It knows no limits but those of 
the Spirit. By it we are joined to '^ the whole family 
in earth and in heaven." (Eph. iii, 15.) We belong 
to " the general assembly and Church of the first- 
born, which are written in heaven." (Heb. xii, 23.) 

" One army of the living God, 

One Church above, beneath, 
Though now divided by the stream. 

The narrow stream of death." 

What a sublime unity is here ! It shall form a 
company, which, in the end, '' no man can number, 
of every kindred, nation and tongue." The con- 
sciousness of a part in this grand unity must elevate 
the soul to humble exultation. And when they 
shall all stand together upon '' the sapphire pave- 
ments of the skies," and shout in unison, '' Salva- 
tion unto our God that sitteth upon the throne, and 
unto the Lamb, forever," the exultant melody shall 
form an anthem worthy of the ear of God. 



Errors of the Papacy. 313 

4. I told you last Sunday evening that the unity 
of the Roman Church is maintained by force. This 
I proved from the canons of the Council of Trent, 
and the writings of Bellarmine. It is exemplified 
by a thousand facts of history. But the '' Unity of 
the Spirit " is maintained by attraction, not by com- 
pulsion. It is the unity of love, as contradistin- 
guished from that of force. It is unity '^ in the 
bond of peace." (Eph. iv, 3.) It asks no '' sword of 
the temporal prince " to drive in refractory members. 
It draws, but does not drive. ^* And I, if I be lifted 
up, will draw all men unto me," said Christ. " My 
people shall be willing in the day of my power." 
(Psa. ex, 3.) Coercion is reserved to the Judge, and 
then it will drive men away, not to himself. It is 
the last and terrible resort of insulted Sovereignty. 
The mission of the Church is one of peace. Every- 
where she holds the olive-branch. She echoes 
Christ's " Come to me." She utters the words of 
his love. " The Spirit and the Bride say. Come. 
And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him 
that is athirst. Come. And whosoever will, let him 
take the water oiXii^ freely.''' (Rev. xxii, 17.) Re- 
luctant spirits, driven into an organization against 
their will, have no part in the unity of Christ. 

Christ, as the great center of the Christian system, 
draws to himself the elements of which his Church 
is composed. The members come to their places 
freely, and are retained as they are drawn, by love. 
This '' sweet compulsion " is the only force em- 
ployed. 

Do you ask me, then, the use of any outward 
Church organism ? I answer, Its use is obvious. 



314 Lecture XIV. 

First, it is necessan* to the administration of the 
ordinances of relii^ion. By it the teachers of Chris- 
tianity are provided and maintained. All the means 
of public relii^ious instruction are dependent upon 
it. Organized etTort to spread the Gospel is thus 
secured. The ministerial otYice is duly guarded and 
maintained. Men are thus enabled to " go forth 
e\er\-\\ here, preaching the word." God works by 
means. Me has made men *' workers together with 
him," in extending the knowledge of salvation. 
Believers, themselves, require to be " built up on 
their most holy faith." Religious teaching and 
teachers are requisite, as well as established methods 
of instruction. How necessary an organization is 
to all this, ever)' one can see. Then there are the 
sacraments to be administered, and the public wor- 
ship of God observed. And the Church must be 
aggTcssive. She must carr)* the Gospel to ** the 
regions beyond." The preacher and the Bible must 
go to the heathen. From the rising to the setting 
sun, Jesus' name must be made known. In these 
great enterprises, organized effort is requisite to ex- 
tended success. 

Secondly, God's people must a\ow themselves. 
Christ must be confessed before men. His followers 
must come out from the world and be separate. 
" Ye are my witnesses." said God, of his ancient 
people. It is true of his people to-day. Their light 
must be *• on a candlestick," not '' under a bushel." 
Their formal association with the body of believers 
is such an avowal ; not sufticient of itself, indeed, 
unless it is supported by a godly life. But it is a 
public confession of Christ, and that public confes- 



Errors of the Papacy. 315 

sion is renewed whenever they " show the Lord's 
death " at the sacred Supper. 

Thirdly, it is necessary to Christian fellowship. 
Communion of saints takes shape. Christians know 
each other by means of their organic association. 
They are brought together, and brotherly love is 
cultivated. They support each other against the 
encroachments of the world, and encourage each 
other's faith and zeal. The social demands of our 
nature, in the religious aspect, are met ; Christian 
joy receives from this source a large revenue. United 
praise and prayer go up to God from the " assem- 
blies of the saints." The weak are supported, the 
feeble-minded are comforted, the erring are called 
back. The whole body, in a word, " maketh in- 
crease — unto the edifying of itself in love." (Eph. 
iv, 16.) 

Fourthly, it is the outward expression of the 
spiritual fact of unity. The Christian life produces 
a common spirit in all those who enjoy it. They 
are one in spirit, and this controlling fact brings them 
together. No more naturally will magnetized steel 
dust cluster together than will Christians. They 
^^7/ associate. Christianity is eminently gregarious. 
Christian people go in flocks. (Acts xx, 28.) A com- 
mon life and a common center of attraction draw 
them together. The outward Church is a necessary 
outgrowth of the inward life. 

But the unity of the Church does not, therefore, 
consist of a universal organism. Independent or- 
ganizations are essentially one when they have in 
common the characteristics which I have given in 
the beginning of this lecture. They unite in faith 



310 l.i\riRE Xl\'. 

in the saving truths in the Htxv birth, in a amtmoft f^ittyy 
in scri/ftnrai tcorshif. Thoy arc unittit in Christ. 
They i^^athor around the Bible and the Cross. So 
kmo; as their dilterenees atVect nothing; th.\t belon^^s 
to the essence of rehgion, the\ are .v.\ in the e\ e 
ot' Christ. The liberty of independent on^anization 
is exidently allowed, tor in the New Testanunt no 
s/tiifiv /orM of orgtini^tition is enjoined. Tlie ele- 
ments of which the Church is to consist are clearly 
i^^iven. but the specitic fonn is not. Adaptation to 
circumstances in thini;\s inditTerent is thus provided 
tor. The wisdom and goodness ol' Ciod appear in 
this as in all things. 

Init. \ ou ask again, \\ ho is to be the /Wi,vto de- 
termine which particular organisations <ire embraced 
in the great Catholic unity? I ask. in return, W ho 
is to be the judge between me and my Romanist 
brother? He is ^«/ a man, and I am a man. l^ut 
he speaks the voice of his Church. So do 1 speak 
the voice of mine. Inii his Church claims to be in- 
fallible. I deny the claim, and there we are at issue 
ag'ain. Who is to decide between us? CuM\ in 
the tinal issue; and, for practical purposes now. 
each man for himself; and the Bible is the rniit of 
judgment. But men are not infallible, and may err, 
therefore. In speculative questions, doubtless, they 
will be unable to see alike. But the saving truth 
has been plainly given. ** The wayt'aring men, though 
fools, shall not err therein." (Isa. xxxv. 8.) But. 
you say. men .;> err in vital matters. Many to 
whom the Bible is accessible go astray from the 
plainest truth. Yes, And, pray, ■ .< e\ ery one 
to wluMu the Roman Church is accessible, see her 



Errors ok thic Papacy. 317 

to be the only true Church, and so i^et the truth 
at her hand? No! What does that prove? If 
that were the best proof against her claims, I should 
yield the argument. And if the fact that men differ 
in essential matters, in interpreting the Scriptures, 
is proof against them as a reliable standard of truth 
for man, then the fact that men differ in reference 
to the claims of Rome as an infallible teacher, is 
proof against the claim. One is just as good as the 
other. If this be a good argument, the world is 
without any reliable revelation ; and the vessel of 
life is afloat, chartless and helmless, upon the sea of 
destiny, drifting on to a fearful shipwreck, or at best 
to an unknown port. 

No, the earnest, conscientious inquirer for truth, 
in the Bible, need not fear. He is obliged to judge 
for himself for practical purposes, and is accountable 
to God for the use of his faculties and opportunities. 
And '* the foundation of God standeth sure, having 
this seal : The Lord knoweth them that are his." 
Each one must inquire, and judge, and act for him- 
self upon the whole question of religion, as upon 
every other, and God will know his own. And they 
shall know him, the only true God, if they seek with 
the zvJiolc heart. ^' In the day that thou seekest me 
with thy whole heait, I will be found of thee." 

Our union in Christ is the ground of immortal 
hope. " Our life is hid with Christ in God. When 
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we 
also appear with him in glory." (Col. iii, 3, 4.) The 
immortality of Christ is the pledge of ours. Living 
and dying, his people are one in him. In all places 
of the earth they are scattered, and separated by 



3i8 Lecture XIV. 

ages and generations. A thousand distinctions of 
race, and sect, and color, and condition, and language, 
and education, and opinion divide them. But, in 
every case, their "life is hid with Christ in God." 
Amid all circumstantial variations, here is the sub- 
stantive unity. Their /^y^ is one. And it is divine. 
It can never fail. Through all changes, and death, 
and decay, it is hid with Christ in God. I stand 
here in the midst of the Western Hemisphere, 
humbly joined to Christ by faith in his name, and 
he hides my life in God. Henceforth, to me, the 
spiritual is the real. God is all in all. This world 
is a world of shadows. Around me, on every hand, 
in every continent, on every island, in every sea, 
are scattered unknown millions, living and dead, 
separated from me by lines of shadow. Our life 
meets in Christ. There we are one. The shadows 
fade. Death and time and distance are nothing. 
What a world of life is hid with mine in God ! And 
" when Christ, who is our life, shall appear^ then 
shall we also appear with him in glory." Hail ! all 
hail! 

We wait the dawn of the coming day. In that 
light we '* shall see as we are seen " by God. Brothers 
of my soul ! we shall come together then in apparent, 
as we are now joined in real, union. '' The day of 
redemption draweth nigh." What a family shall 
then meet in " the house not made with hands," 
under the Fatherhood of God ! Our childish differ- 
ences and misunderstandings shall pass away. Our 
hidden life shall appear. We " shall know as we 
are known." 

Even now we realize the bond of the " mystic 



Errors of the Papacy. 319 

brotherhood." Even now we despise the shadow- 
walls of partition. We await the consummation ! 
The day when Christ shall appear^ we shall appear 
together with him. Then shall '* the general as- 
sembly and Church of the first-born " stand upon 
Mount Zion. BROTHERS, known and unknown, all 
hail ! I shall know you then. 

On next Sunday evening I will deliver a lecture 
on the Ministry of Christ's Church, as contrasted 
with the Priesthood of the Pope's Church. 



320 Lecture XV. 



LECTURE XV. 

THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST'S CHURCH CONTRASTED 
WITH THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE POPE'S CHURCH. 

" Then opened He their understanding, that they might tmder- 
stand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Tlius it is written, and 
thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from tlie dead tlie third 
day : and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached 
in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are 
witnesses of these things." — Luke xxiv, 45-48. 

" And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by 
Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation ; to- 
wit : that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not 
imputing their trespasses unto them ; and hath committed unto us 
the word of reconciliation. Now, then, we are ambassadors for 
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you, in 
Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." — 2 Cor. v, 18-20. 

BEFORE proceeding to the discussion of the 
subject announced for the evening, I must dis- 
charge an obligation of friendship. I have received 
a letter, which I should have acknowledged in a 
more private way, but for the circumstance that it 
is anonymous, and I could not guess to whom I was 
indebted for the favor. But, as it is my desire not 
to owe a debt of kindness when it is in my power 
to reciprocate the act, I take this, the only method 
open to me, of making my respects to my unknown 
friend. And that you may know the nature and 
extent of the obligations under which I have been 
brought, I will read you the letter. It has already 



Errors of the Papacy. 321 

been the source of entertainment to some of my 
friends privately, and, as you are all my friends, I 
will give you all the benefit of it : 

St. Louis, February 27, i860. 

Rev. Mr. Marvin — Sir: In the concluding paragraph of 
your lecture, No. 13, you must do injustice to your own con- 
science in impugning the known truth in your false statement 
of the unity, holiness, apostolicity and catholicity of the Roman 
Catholic Church. As there is but one Lord, one Faith, one 
Baptism, one God and Father of all, there can not be but one 
true Church ; and that true Church, to be conformable to 
eternal justice, must necessarily have those four distinctive 
marks of unity, holiness, apostolicity and catholicity. As you 
can not point out any other Church having those necessary 
distinctive marks, unless the Roman Catholic Church, it proves 
her, to all intents and purposes, to be the only true Church of 
God. Hence all ranting and raving against her, on such false 
premises, is a certain contradiction in terms, which, in logic, 
is considered an absurdity. If you would have these few lines 
published, it would answer all the lectures of your kind that 
could be published until doomsday. Hence, if you wish to 
save your soul, you should become a Catholic at once, as you 
should recollect that no person is convinced by mere subterfuge 
and abuse. People require logical argument, on sound prin- 
ciples, to convince them, and how can you give what you have 
not } Don't believe the reporter, when he tries to humbug 
you, when he says, " The evident sincerity and ingenuousness 
of the lecturer, together with his eloquence, and the thorough, 
masterly manner in which he handles his subjects, enchain at- 
tention, convince, edify and delight the multitudes that hang 
upon his words ! " Now, the fellow knows very well that al- 
most the whole community are laughing and amused at your 
labor in vain struggles against God's holy and infallible Church, 
against which the gates of hell shall never prevail. She is 
known by her fruits. Look round with admiration (?), and be 
convinced ; and, at least, be convinced that in me you have 
found one friend,who, in a few lines only, tells you all you can or 



322 Lecture XV. 

need know, to know the truth (!). I am no clergyman, but a 
friend to truth, and despise a foolish persistence in error, as 
you have much more trouble iu hunting up erroneous state- 
ments, than you would have in finding the truth. I enter not 
into controversy with you, nor do I seek notoriety ; but if you 
were to publish this friendly advice in the Republican, or any 
other of the city papers, even without a signature, the public 
would know the writer. I am, very respectfully, 

A Friend to Truth. 

The grave charges made against me in this mis- 
sile might secure the author credit for boldness, only 
that it is always esteemed an equivocal sort of cour- 
age that fires under cover. My own courage, on 
the contrary, must pass, I suppose, for rashness, 
when I publish ^' these few lines," which are to up- 
set all I have said, or can say. At all events, it is 
gratifying to know that I am a public benefactor, if 
it be only in furnishing " almost the whole commu- 
nity " with amusement. And it is yet more grati- 
fying to know that I have at last '' found one friend^ 
A friend is a priceless treasure. There is a draw- 
back in this case, however, and that is, that I don't 
know zvhere to find i\\e friend whom I Jiave found. 

Upon the whole, judging the man by the writing, 
I am inclined to set him down for a clever fellow ; 
and as he is so anxious to get into print, '^ faith, I'll 
print him." I " guess " him to be a generous, im- 
pulsive, ardent sort of body, that I should like upon 
acquaintance ; and as the public is sure to know him 
in print, I am in hopes the public (who is my par^ ^ 
ticular friend) will tell me who he is. 

But, dismissing my sub rosa friend, I must proceed 
to the topic of the evening : The ministry of Christ's 



Errors of the Papacy. 323 

Church contrasted with the priesthood of the Pope's 
Church. I use the expression, " the Pope's Church," 
with no invidious intention. You who have either 
heard or read my two last lectures, will see the pro- 
priety of the language. The Pope is the head of 
the Roman Church, and center of its unity. Just 
as Great Britain and her dependencies are called 
*' the Queen's dominions," the Roman may be called 
the Pope's Church. 

Every association has its officers, and every relig- 
ion its ministers. The Church and the Christian 
religion are not different from others in this respect. 

What is the Christian ministry, and what its 
functions ? 

In reading the Scriptures of the New Testament 
you will, perhaps, be struck with the fact that cer- 
tain men, denominated apostles^ occupy the most 
prominent place, and are most active in the work of 
the Church. Before the crucifixion they were con- 
stant attendants upon the person of the Lord, and 
after that event they took the lead in establishing 
Churches and managing their affairs. The Roman 
Church claims the perpetuation of the apostolical 
office in herself, and her exclusive assumptions rest, 
in a large degree, upon that claim. 

Now I affirm that, in what was peculiar to the 
office of an apostle, they had no successors. The 
office was special, and belonged, not to the continu- 
ous ministry of the Church, but only to the opening 
of the Christian dispensation and the first establish- 
ment of the Church. It is true that the apostleship 
included the ordinary functions of the ministry, but, 

in addition to these, it embraced other and special 
21 



324 Lecture XV. 

powers. In the ordinary functions of the ministe- 
rial office, every true minister succeeds them ; but 
in those which were special they have never been 
succeeded by any, and, in the nature of the case, 
never can be. I desire no man to take my mere 
statement for this. You all have the opportunity 
to test my statement. I appeal to the Scriptures. 
Consider, then, the following places, and tell me if, 
in view of their teaching, there are any apostles now 
in the world, or any men with apostolical pre- 
rogatives. 

I. The tenth chapter of Matthew entire is devoted 
to an account of the establishment of the apostol- 
ical office, together with the address delivered to 
the incumbents, by our Lord, upon the occasion of 
their installation. This address defines the office, 
and contains also ' the official instructions under 
which they were to act. It is, therefore, a docu- 
ment worthy of the most careful attention, as bear- 
ing upon this investigation. You Avill observe, then, 

(i.) That there was a specific number of men 
designated to this office, whose names are given : 
*' Now, the names of the twelve apostles are these : 
the first Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, 
his brother ; James, the son of Zebedee, and John, 
his brother ; Philip and Bartholomew ; Thomas, and 
Matthew the publican ; James, the son of Alpheus, 
and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus ; Simon, 
the Canaanite ; and Judas Iscariot, who also be- 
trayed him." (Matt, x, 2-4.) 

(2.) These twelve were not all the disciples whom 
Jesus had, nor did they monopolize the ministerial 
office during our Saviour's lifetime. He employed 



Errors of the Papacy. 325 

seventy others to proclaim the coming of God's king- 
dom. (Luke X, 1-20.) But while these were so em- 
ployed, the apostles i^tained their peculiar honor, 
and were ever nearest the person of the Lord, and 
were called the twelve. 

(3.) These were most carefully instructed in his 
doctrine, and to them was committed the Spirit of in- 
spiration : ^' For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit 
of your Father that speaketh in you." (Matt, x, 20.) 
To them he made the promise, when he instituted 
the holy Supper, that the Holy Ghost should teach 
them all things, and bring to their remembrance all 
that he had said to them. (John xiv, 26.) Thus en- 
dowed, they were prepared to give the world the New 
Testament canon. The seventy enjoyed the power 
to work miracles in common with them. 

(4.) They were the special witnesses of his resur- 
rection. (Acts i, 2, 3, 8, 22 ; and iv, 33.) It is to the 
apostles that he says, '^ Ye shall receive power after 
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you ; and ye shall 
be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in Judea, 
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the 
earth." When the apostles spoke of filling the vacan- 
cy occasioned by the fall of Judas, '' one must be or- 
dained," say they, '■'■ to be a witness with us of the 
resurrection." ''And with great power gave the apos- 
tles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus." 
See also John xv, 27: ''And ye also shall bear wit- 
ness, because ye have been with me from the begin- 
ning." From this you will see why Paul, in authen- 
ticating his apostolic character, lays such stress on 
the fact that he had "seen Christ." (i Cor. ix, i.) 



326 Lecture XV. 

2. That the apostles themselves understood their 
office to be special and peculiar, and confined to the 
original number appointed by our Lord, and that 
the chief business of an apostle was to be a witness 
of Christ, is clear, from the fact that when Judas 
fell, they thought it necessary to supply his place ; 
and that in doing this, they thought it equally neces- 
sary to make the selection, from among those men 
who, as they say, '* have companied with us all the 
time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among 
us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that 
same day that he was taken up from us ;" and the 
design was, as I have already shown, to complete 
the number of special witnesses ** of his resurrec- 
tion." Two were appointed, between whom the lot 
was cast, and one, named Matthias, selected. We 
hear of no other apostle in the New Testament ex- 
cept Paul, whom I shall introduce to your attention 
soon. Why this rigid adherence to the original 
number? And wh\- was not this number aftcrivard 
kept full upon the death of the apostles ? But one 
answer can be given. The office was confined to 
themselves ; the necessity for it passed away with 
them. They, indeed, accomplished and consum- 
mated the apostolic work, as I shall soon show ; and 
after they were gone there was no more use for 
apostles. 

3. This will all appear with great clearness in the 
examination of the case of the Apostle Paul. Let 
us turn first to Gal. i, i, ig: *' Paul, an apostle, not 
of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and 
God the Father, who raised him from the dead." 
This reference to his direct appointment to the apos- 



Errors of the Papacy. 327 

tolic office by Christ himself is peculiarly significant. 
Grave errors, of most hurtful tendency, had crept 
into the Churches of Galatia, and he determined to 
eradicate them. In order to do this he must estab- 
lish his credit with those Churches, as an apostle. 
This point gained, they have no alternative but to 
receive his declarations as ultimate authority in any 
question of Christian doctrine. His apostolic voca- 
tion is therefore vindicated in the outset. His 
apostleship, he affirms, is not of- men, neither by 
man, but BY Jesus CHRIST. In Acts ix and xxii 
we have the account of his strange conversion. 
Suddenly, and by a great miracle, arrested in his 
headstrong and bloody persecution of the feeble 
followers of Christ, he gives himself up, wholly, and 
with the irrepressible ardor of his great soul, to the 
cause and the Lord that he had so deeply wronged 
and injured. Christ appeared to him personally, and 
invested him with the commission of an apostle. 
"And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. 
But rise, and stand upon thy feet : for I have ap- 
peared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a 
minister and a zuitness both of these things which 
thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I 
will appear unto thee." (Acts xxvi, 15, 16. See the 
whole chapter.) Thus was the man of Tarsus consti- 
tuted by the Lord himself one of '' the Witnesses." 
Different opinions are entertained as to the validity 
of Matthias' election to the apostolate. There is, 
to say the least, a strong argument against it. First, 
if our Lord had intended the place of Judas to be 
filled from the number of those who were already 
his disciples, is it not likely that he would himself 



3-S Lecture XV. 

have niadc the selection during the forty days he 
^^•as with them after his resurrection ? In every other 
instance the apostles were called by him personally. 
Secondly, the promise to guide the apostles " into 
all truth " was to be fulfilled in the gift of the Holy 
Ghost, ''the Spirit of truth." (John xvi, 13.^ For 
this they were to ivait : nor were they authorized 
to proceed in their work until it should come upon 
them. But the selection of ^latthias was made be- 
fore they had received their infallible Guide, ** the 
Spirit of truth." Thirdly, the suggestion was made 
by Peter, with whom it was no new thing to speak 
hastily. From all these facts may we not infer that 
this election was premature, and that Christ himself 
afterwards filled the place with his own *' chosen 
vessel," Paul ? I strongly incline to this opinion. 
But some suppose that Paul is not to be reckoned 
among the twelve, his vocation being separate, and 
designed especially for the Gentiles. It is not a 
question at all affecting dogmas, and I am not, there- 
fore, pertinacious. It does not in any degree de- 
tract from the credit of the apostles as inspired 
men to suppose they made a mistake before they 
received the Spirit of inspiration. And, on the other 
hand, it detracts nothing from the authority of Paul 
to suppose his vocation peculiar to himself. In 
either case t4ie fact is clear that the apostleship was 
a special office, limited as I have shown before. 
This limitation stands out prominently in the case 
of Paul, as I have shown in part, and as will more 
fully appear in the further examination of his case. 
He still further assures the Galatians, in the same 
connection referred to already, that the Gospel he 



Errors of the Papacy. 329 

preached was not of man, for, says he, " I neither 
received it of man, nor was I taugJit it, but by the 
revelation of Jesus Christ T (Gal. i, 11, 12.) When 
he received his designation to the office, he did not 
even go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles 
before him. (V. 17.) He required no human in- 
structor. Christ had become his Master in theology, 
and he needed no other. " The Spirit of truth," 
which he^had received in equal measure with the 
other apostles, constituted his plenary endowment 
as a witness of the truth, and his interview with 
Christ made him a zvitness of the resurrection. 

4. The apostles authenticated their claim by signs. 
** They went forth, and preached every-where, the 
Lord working with them, and confirming the word 
with signs follotving.'' (Mark xvi, 20.) Others, in 
those times, did indeed work miracles. The power 
was not confined to the twelve. But to prove him- 
self an apostle, a man must at least perform miracu- 
lous works. And there were these peculiarities about 
the apostles : first, they performed more numerous 
and greater works than others. " By the hands of 
the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought 
among the people, * * '^' * insomuch that they 
brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them 
on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of 
Peter, passing by, might overshadow some of them." 
(Acts v, 12-15.) ''And God wrought special miracles 
by the hands of Paul ; so that from his body were 
brought unto the sick, handkerchiefs or aprons, and 
the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits 
went out of them. (Acts xix, 11, 12.) "I speak 
with tongues 7nore than ye all'' (i Cor. xiv, 18,) 



330 Lecture XV. 

Secondly, the miracle-working power was co7if erred 
hy the apostles on others. "And when Paul laid his 
hands on them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and 
they spake with tongues and prophesied.'' (Acts 
xix, 6.) 

Paul, in that noble vindication of his official charac- 
ter to the Corinthians, appeals directly to his miracu- 
lous vouchers. " In notJiing am I behind the very 
chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. Truly, THE 
SIGNS OF AN APOSTLE were tvrought among you in 
all patience, and signs, and wonders, and mighty 
deeds." (i Cor. xxii, ii, 12.) 

5. That the apostleship is limited, as I have shown, 
is further settled by John in the Apocalypse. In 
the resplendent visions of Patmos he saw *' that 
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of 
heaven from God, having the glory of God. -^ ^ * 
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, 
and in them the names of the tzvelve apostles of the 
Lamb." (Rev. xxi, 10-14.) There are only twelve 
apostles of the Lamb, and there will never be any 
increase of the number. In the consummation, that 
will be the number. 

6. Finally, the apostolic vocation was peculiar to 
the first age of Christianity, and was fully consum- 
mated by the twelve, including Paul. As I have 
shown in several Scriptures, the apostolic office in- 
volved these two things : first, that they were ivit- 
nesses of Jesus, and secondly, that, receiving the 
gospel, not by instruction, but directly from him, 
they became its authoritative exponents to the ivorld. 
As none have sem Christ since that time, none can 
be his witnesses in the apostolic sense ; and as he no 



Errors of the Papacy. 331 

longer reveals the Gospel to any, but all who receive 
it do so by instruction^ there can be none who are 
infallible exponents of it now. 

By these plain Scriptural tests are we to " try them 
which say they are apostles and are not." (Rev. 
ii, 2.) The apostolicity which my anonymous friend 
rejoices in so much makes a sorry appearance when 
placed alongside the genuine apostolic office. Sup- 
pose we put a few plain questions to one of these 
pretenders to the apostleship. 

Did you receive the gospel of man, or of Christ ? 
Were you taught it " by revelation of Jesus Christ," 
or from the curriculum of a theological college? 
' Have you seen the Lord ? Were you notified of 
your apostolic vocation from his own lips ? Are you 
a personal witness of his resurrection ? Can you 
show "" the signs of an apostle ?" And it will not do 
to refer us to prodigies wrought by some one else 
in some remote place. In his epistle to the Co- 
rinthians, Paul vindicates his office by an appeal to 
signs wrought among tJiem. Produce your '^ signs, 
and wonders, and mighty deeds " here^ where we can 
see them. So far as I know, Nauvoo is the nearest 
to us of any other scene of miracles. The papers 
tell us of one of recent date in New Bedford, Mass- 
achusetts, performed by one Dr. Bellows, of New 
York, a second advent preacher ! Where are the 
successors of the apostles ? Are they asleep ? 

The word apostle is, indeed, sometimes used with 
some latitude, as almost every word is. Luther is 
called '' the apostle of Germany," and Wesley, *' the 
apostle of Methodism." And so of men among us 
who are distinguished for holiness and for uncom- 



332 Lecture XV. 

mon devotedness to the cause of God. Even in 
the New Testament the word is used with this lati- 
tude, in a few instances. But from what I have 
said it is clear that, in its proper, official significance, 
it is confined to those few men, selected by our Lord 
himself, to inaugurate the new dispensation. 

But, in spite of the plain Scripture teaching that 
the apostolic office was temporary, and confined to 
the men whom Christ himself selected, and notwith- 
standing the total absence of apostolic qualifications, 
we have men claiming to be successors of the apos- 
tles, and they make most exorbitant demands upon 
our credulity, in virtue of their claim. Hear one 
of them. Dr. Cahill, in a sermon lately preached in 
Brooklyn, and published in the Romish journals. 
I quote from the " Boston Pilot," of Feb. 25th: — 

*' Dearest BretJiren : I am now going to deliver a 
discourse for you upon what we call the Infallibility 
of the Catholic Church. The word infallible does 
not mean that no man in the Church can fail ; but 
it means that the doctrines taught by Christ and his 
apostles are the same doctrines which are still taught 
in the Church, and will be to the end of the world. 
The infallibility of the Church means this : that I, 
an approved Priest, approved by my Bishop, having 
passed my examination in college, taken out my 
degree, recognized as a Priest and approved by the 
Bishop, that you may rely upon what I tell you with 
the same certainty as if you heard Christ himself 
speaky 

What a consoling proposition that is ! As if a 
man said, '' Dr. Cahill, I send my wife to your 



Errors of the Papacy. 333 

knee, and I would not let the wife of my bosom 
go on her knees to any man on earth but the Priest ; I 
take my spotless child, my daughter — and I can 
scarcely bear the breezes of the skies to touch her 
cheek — my spotless child that I love, and I place 
her on her knees before you, to tell you the secrets of 
her hearty though I would not let any man on earth 
lay the tip of his finger on her shoulder ; I go to you 
myself, and I am a proud man, and could scarcely 
take off my hat to the monarch of the world," etc. 
These are certainly not very modest pretensions 
for a man who can produce no '' signs of an 
apostle." 

That you may have something like a just view of 
the egregious nature of the assumptions involved in 
the Romish theory of the Christian ministry, let 
me call your attention to the following facts, all of 
which grow out of their claim of succession to apos- 
tolic functions. 

I. They claim to be infallible exponents of Script- 
ure doctrine. Their pretentions in this respect are 
not limited to the exposition of Scripture, but ex- 
tend to all things whatsoever, insomuch that what 
the Church teaches in any matter of doctrine or 
morality is to be devoutly received. And any ap- 
proved priest is to be believed in all that he 
teaches, just as implicitly as if it were Christ him- 
self speaking. (See the extract from Dr. Cahill.) By 
the way, this is quite consolatory to us Protestants ; 
for when Luther first taught the main doctrines of 
the Reformation he was an " approved priest." He 
had taken his degree, and been approved by the 
Bishop, and, according to Dr. Cahill, those who 



334 Lecture XV. 

heard him were bound to receive what he said just 
as though it had been Christ speaking. 

How illy the priests sustain the character of in- 
fallible teachers is patent to every observer. They 
seem not to understand the history of their own 
traditions. They, cannot even understand how the 
idea of transubstantiation should originate in Euty- 
chianism. It was the most natural thing in the 
world that the man who taught that the human 
nature in Christ was absorbed into the divine, 
should strive to make the Eucharist consistent with 
his theory, by inventing a change in the elements, 
so that the divine Christ should not be repre- 
sented by a physical substance in the sacrament. 
This is just what Eutyches did according to Theo- 
dpret, who put this language in the mouth of a Euty- 
chian : ** As the symbols of the Lord's body and 
blood are one thing before their consecration by the 
priest, but, after their consecration, are physically 
changed and become quite another thing; so the 
material body of the Lord, after its assumption, was 
physically changed into the divine substance." 
(Theod., Dial, ii, Oper., vol. iv, p. 84, Lut., Paris, 
1642.) I cannot imagine any thing that would more 
certainly suggest the idea of transubstantiation than 
this notion of Eutyches in reference to the change 
of the physical nature of Christ by absorption into 
the divine. And it is clear that it did not originate 
there. Never before the time of the Byzantine 
Abbot do we hear of a physical change in the ele- 
ments of the Eucharist. Then we do hear of it as 
a part, or at least an incident, of his heresy of Mon- 
ophysitism. 



Errors of the Papacy. 335 

2. In virtue of their pretended apostolical au- 
thority, they assume functions which the apostles 
never did. 

I. They assume the functions oi priesthood. In- 
deed, this is the leading characteristic of their min- 
istry, as Archbishop Hughes admits. They are 
called priests. This is their most common and per- 
tinent designation. 

I charge that in this fact the ministry of the Ro- 
man Church is essentially perverted^ so that it is not 
a Christian ministry. This is a most important 
point. If there were no other corruption in the 
Church of Rome, this single one would be fatal to 
her. I have given some attention, in previous lect- 
ures, to this subject ; but some further investigation 
of it is necessary here. 

A priesthood supposes an altar, a sacrifice, and a 
priest to offer it. Of course, the word sacrifice is 
used in this discussion in the sense of an offering for 
sins. Now note the following facts : 

First, the New Testament Scriptures know noth- 
ing of any sacrifice but Christ, nor of any other sac- 
rificial offering of him except that made by himself on 
the cross. On the contrary, they assert that he did 
then offer himself once for all. It is, therefore, not 
only without Scripture authority, but directly 
against the plain affirmation of the Word of God, 
that the priests of Rome pretend to sacrifice Christ 
in the Mass. Secondly, the ministers of Christ are 
not, in any single place, directed to make any offering 
for sin. The commission gives no such function to 
their office, nor do any subsequent instructions in- 
timate such a thing. If this be the characterizing 



33^ Lecture XV. 

feature of the Christian ministry, why are the Chris- 
tian Scriptures, which estabhsh and define the 
office, silent as the grave in reference to it ? Tlie 
truth is palpable : the ministry has no such func- 
tion. Thirdly, the ministers of Christ are never 
called priests, in the Scriptures. Among the titles 
given to ministers, ordinary and extraordinary, in 
the New Testament, this one NEVER occurs. 
Why ? Simply because none of them were priests. 
They were preachers and pastors, to warn and in- 
vite sinners, and to '' feed the flock of God ; " but 
they were not priests, to offer sacrifice " for the liv- 
ing and dead." If you desire to witness an in- 
stance of real swallowing of a camel, of life-size, just 
get a man to read the New Testament, and then 
try to believe that ministers of the Gospel are priests ! 
2. The priests of Rome assume higher powers 
than ever the apostles did in their theory of for- 
giving sin, and in their whole system of sacramen- 
tal salvation. I have already treated of the 
authority to remit sin, which our Saviour gave to 
the apostles. In a previous lecture I showed that 
they never pretended anything more than to remit 
ecclesiastical censures^ excepting only that they 
preached remission of sins in the name of Christ. 
But, according to the Council of Trent, not only 
does the priest absolve the penitent in the confes- 
sional, judicially, but in all the seven sacraments 
grace comes through sacerdotal manipulation. The 
efficacy of the act is so wholly dependent on the 
priest, that any want of intention on his part defeats 
the effect. He stands between the penitent and God, 
to convey or withhold God's grace, as he may choose. 



Errors of the Papacy. 337 

3. The confessional is without a parallel in apos- 
tolic prerogative. What a striking contrast there is 
between the directions which the apostles give to be- 
lievers, and those which the priests give ! Confes- 
sion of sin to a minister is never enumerated among 
the duties of the Christian life by the former, while 
there is scarcely anything so much insisted on by 
the latter. You will scarcely find the most compend- 
ious manual of Christian duty put forth by a 
Romanist, but the absolute necessity of confessing 
all sin to the priest is strenuously insisted on. All 
descriptions of sin, such as have ripened into the 
overt act, and such as lie concealed in the unspoken 
thought,- all^ ALL are to be carefully told to the 
priest. Proud men and modest women must 
tell every impure thought to the priest. I speak 
by the book, and challenge contradiction. And 
if any, even ladies, hesitate, through timidity, 
and conscious female delicacy, they are to be 
led on by questions until every hidden thing is 
made known to the '^ father confessor." Such au- 
thority to inspect the secret soul the apostles did 
NOT claim. They never required shrinking, modest 
woman to detail to them their most secret thoughts. 
Such God-like prerogatives they never usurped. 

4. The priests claim a certain jurisdiction over 
the departed. Souls in purgatory are helped by the 
suffrages of the faithful, but especially by the " ac- 
ceptable sacrifice of the altar." It must be remem- 
bered, as I have proved heretofore, that purgatory 
is the exclusive property of the priests. They in- 
vented it ; and, in the commercial acceptation of 
the phrase, they '' make a good thing of it." " It 



338 Lecture XV. 

pays." Having contrived this receptacle for certain 
classes of the dead, of course they must have ex- 
clusive control of it. If they really have authority 
to put souls into such uncomfortable quarters, they 
ought to have the privilege of helping them out. 
But all this places them in most striking contrast 
with the apostles, of whom they claim to be suc- 
cessors. T/icy maintained no authority over the 
souls of the dead. They established no colony on 
the banks of the Styx which they might skillfully 
administer with an eye to the revenue. That ex- 
periment was left to priests, and to a later day. 

From all that I have said, you will see how com- 
pletely any effort to establish apostolical character 
and authority on the part of the priests of Rome 
fails. The apostles were selected by Christ in per- 
son ; they were witnesses of him, first as to the" fact 
of his resurrection, and, secondly, as to his doctrine. 
For this purpose, they were men who had both seen 
him and received the Gospel from himself direct ; 
and they showed the sigfis which demonstrated 
their apostleship wherever they went. In all these 
facts they and Rome are separated as wide as the 
poles. And then the infallible pretentions of the 
priests are infallible contradictions in history, and 
the official prerogatives they assume are extremely 
unapostolic. 

It is, indeed, true that the apostles had all the 
functions of the ordinary ministry, and they were 
the first who were invested with that ministry. 
And it is further true that every true minister suc- 
ceeds them ill that respect. In other words, every 
true minister succeeds to their ordinary functions. 



Errors of the Papacy. 339 

He succeeds them as they were mere ministers of 
Christ ; but he does not succeed them as they were 
apostles. In that office they stand apart, as I have 
shown, from all other men. ^ 

Now let us come to speak of the ministry of 
Christ's Church, and in doing so you will discover 
the contrast between it and the priesthood of 
the Pope's Church. 

I. The ministers of Christ's Church diV^ preachers 
of the gospel, '^ Go ye into all the world, divvd preach 
the gospel to every creature." (Mark xvi, 15.) 
** Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to 
suffer and to rise from the dead the third day; and 
that repentance and remission of sins should be 
preached in his name among all nations, beginning at 
Jerusalem." (Luke xxiv, 46, 47.) ** They that were 
scattered abroad went every-where, preaching the 
Wordy (Acts viii, 4.) God has *' given to us the 
ministry of reconciliation, to wit : that God was in 
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not im- 
puting their trespasses unto them ; and hath com- 
mitted unto us the word of reconciliation. Now, 
then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God 
did beseech you by us ; we pray you, in Christ's 
stead, be ye reconciled to God." (2 Cor. v, 18, 
19, 20). 

Jesus Christ came into the world to provide sal- 
vation for man. He offers himself to each individ- 
ual of our race as a Saviour from sin and its deplor- 
able consequences. This offer he makes by means 
of his word, written and spoken. The offer is not 
only made, but pressed with the urgency of Divine 

solicitation. The heart of the Infinite yearns toward 

22 



340 Lecture XV. 

his fallen creatures. The love of God culminates in 
the incarnation and passion of the Son. The echoes 
of Calvary — utterances of supreme pity — must be 
made audible to every object of Divine beneficence. 
Men are called, persuaded, besought to accept the 
proffered grace. Yet is the Divine supremacy duly 
guarded. Salvation must be conferred in a way that 
will secure the integrity of the Divine government. 
In the reception of it, the beneficiary must submit 
to God's law. For all these reasons the provisions 
of the gospel must be made known, and its offers 
and terms published. Man is an intelligent creature, 
and, in becoming a Christian, he must act intelli- 
gently. Hence religion is a thing in which men are 
to be instructed. It has its text books and its teach- 
ers. Preaching includes not only the proclamation 
of grace to the ungodly, but also instruction in all 
the demands, privileges, provisions, and responsibili- 
ties of religion. The minister is a teacher. 

But, you tell me, a man cannot be a competent 
teacher of religion unless he is infallible. I reply, I 
know of no class of men, professing to be teachers 
of the Christian religion, who claim personal iitfal- 
libility. The Roman priests make no such claim. 
If they claim to represent an infallible Church, / 
claim to represent an infallible Bible. If I may mis- 
take the meaning of the Bible, they may misunder- 
stand the Church. So long as they are not infalli- 
ble individually, they have no advantage of others 
in this respect. To bear them out in their high 
claims, infallibility must be an endowment of each 
individual teacher. An infallibility distributed at 
large can be of no avail, according to their argu- 



Errors of the Papacy. 341 

ment, unless there are infallible men to find it out, 
and apply it. For their argument against the Bible 
as a sufficient rule of faith is, that though it be in- 
fallible, yet men, being fallible, may fail to under- 
stand it. So that the judgment of fallible men, in 
interpreting an infallible standard, may reach a false 
result. Now, suppose the Church infallible, with 
teachers who are fallible, which' is the Roman 
theory. What is the result ? Even by this theory, 
the teaching comes to the people through a fallible 
channel. There is no help for it, unless every teacher 
claim infallibility for himself, which the priests do 
not, and dare not, do. 

Now, collect these fallible teachers into a general 
council. What have you gained ? Can a few hun- 
dred fallibles make an infallible ? Preposterous ! 
And if it did, yet its decrees must be conveyed to 
the people by men liable to error. From this there 
is no escape. What advantage, then, has the priest 
over the preacher ? None, absolutely none. In- 
deed, the argument is against him ; for, in addition 
to the Bible, he has the decrees and canons of some 
eighteen general councils to interpret to the people, 
and it will be a wonder, indeed, if he makes no 
blunder in going over the whole. The Protestant 
has only the Bible to interpret. 

The plain, unvarnished truth is this : Christianity 
is revealed in the Bible, and nowhere else. That 
is the text-book of religion — Christian ministers are 
the teachers. There you have an inspired text-book 
with an uninspired teacher. What now ? Obvious- 
ly, he is to teach the inspired text. He does not 
require inspiration himself, because he has an in- 



34- Lecture XV. 

spired book which contains the whole matter. That 
he may know its teaching, and be able to instruct 
others, he is to " give himself to reading." (i Tim. 
iv, 13.) By the Scripture '* the man of God " (that 
is, the minister) is ** thoroughly furjiished unto all 
good works." (2 Tim. iii, 15, 16, 17.) ^'- Study \.o 
show thyself approved unto God, a workman that 
needeth not to "be ashamed, rightly dividing the 
word of truth." (2 Tim. ii, 15.) Thus did Paul di- 
rect a minister, whom he regarded as his " son in 
the gospel," to the Bible as the source of his com- 
plete furnishing for the work to which he had been 
called, and exhort him to study, that he might be 
able to divide the word of truth aright, and thus 
show himself approved unto God. God's ministers 
are to study the Bible, and teach its truths to oth- 
ers. But, you ask, if the Bible is the standard, why 
not simply give it to the people ? Why have teach- 
ers ? Answer, why do you have both teachers and 
text-books in your schools ? Why not simply put 
the text-book into the hands of the student, and 
leave him with it ? For two reasons : first, many 
students would be indolent : and, secondly, the as- 
sistance of a teacher greatly facilitates their under- 
standing of the text. The same applies to the case 
of the religious teacher. The business of the teacher 
is to devote himself to the science which he teaches, 
and make himself master of it. Thus he can re- 
move the difficulties and aid the efforts of the stu- 
dent. But you do not direct the student, after his 
mind has become mature, and he has enjoyed large 
advantages of study and investigation, to enslave 
his mind to his teacher, and receive every tiling he 



Errors of the Papacy. 343 

may say. He is not so completely in leading-strings 
that he must not think on his own account at all. 
So in religion, precisely. The minister '' gives him- 
self to reading," in the science of salvation. He en- 
joys opportunities and facilities which others do not. 
It is his business to know the Scriptures. He is to 
prepare himself to aid the understanding of his 
hearers. But they have their appeal to the text- 
book, just as the student has. There it lies open, to 
check the teacher and protect the taught. 

A terrible retribution awaits the man who, assum- 
ing to be a teacher of religion, embraces fatal error, 
and leads others astray. The blind leaders of the 
blind have more than themselves to answer for. 
Augmented condemnation, in the ratio of the mis- 
chief they have done, must be " the portion of their 
cup." But what is to become of those ignorant, 
sincere persons, who are misled by false guides? 
God will know how to judge them. The Roman 
theory, however, does not relieve the case, for if 
there are false teachers in spite of the Bible, so there 
are, also, in spite of the Church. It makes matters 
no better for the dupes that there is a Church in 
existence which claims to be infallible. 

One of the most striking characteristics of the 
Bible is, that the substance of saving doctrine is 
contained in a few plain dogmas, clearly put in the 
Scriptures. These few dogmas are, however, a 
fruitful source of truth, all of which is full of interest 
and profit. You will see from this how a man may 
be a Christian and know but little, and yet how im- 
portant it is for every one to know as much as pos- 
sible. And while the Bible is the safeguard of the 



344 Lecture XV. 

faith, the standard by which even the unlearned 
may assure themselves of the truth, it is, also, the 
inexhaustible fountain of knowledge in a wider range 
than is necessary merely for salvation. Almost any one 
who can read can learn enough in that book for his 
salvation. And yet, even when that is done, it is an in- 
estimable privilege to the private Christian to enjoy 
the benefit of instruction from one whose business it 
is to know and teach the Word of God. As for those 
who cannot read at all, they must get their knowledge 
of Christianity from the preacher, or from the general 
Christian belief around them, or from intelligent 
Christian friends. In most cases, all these modes 
of information perform the work of instruction. 

It is, further, the business of the pastor to assist 
the people of his charge in detecting such errors as 
they may be exposed to, from any source ; to ex- 
pose the sophistries of skillful heresy, and to keep 
prominently before their flock the elementary doc- 
trines of the Christian faith. 

You see how essential a part of the agencies of 
the ^o'^i'^^i preachers are. First, as ambassadors of 
God, to treat with his enemies on the subject of 
their salvation. The preacher's instructions are in 
writing. They are full and explicit. He knows 
precisely the terms on which, in the name of his 
Sovereign, he may propose to them a treaty of 
peace. At the same time he has every motive to 
be active and urgent in securing their submission. 
He has an interest in them. They are his fellows. 
The sympathy of a common nature whets his solici- 
tude. The danger of a brother on ''the borders of 
the pit " spurs him to haste. Stronger than the 



Errors of the Papacy. 345 

interest of a common nature is the love of Christ, 
kindled within him by the Holy Spirit. He is in 
sympathy with the sufferings of the Son of God. In 
addition to all that, he has the personal incentive of 
a large reward. They that turn many to righteous- 
ness shall shine as the stars in the firmament, for- 
ever and ever. God knew the effect of the living 
human voice on the heart. There is not another 
such interpreter of emotions in the world. Each 
emotion has its peculiar tone. Nothing else em- 
bodies it so. Our Redeemer, in his living ministers, 
uses this wondrous instrument to win his foes. In 
the heart of his faithful servants he reproduces the 
solicitude of redeeming pity, and their voices convey 
what no written solicitation could. Such is the 
diplomacy of heaven amongst us rebels of a revolted 
province in the empire of God. Secondly, preachers 
are teachers of the ignorant. They contribute to the 
confirmation of faith and the enlargement of knowl- 
edge. Thirdly, they watch against the introduction of 
error. And, if Paul was an inspired writer, they are 
thoroughly furnished to all this by the Scriptures. 

2. Ministers of the gospel are not only preachers, 
but the government of the Church devolves largely 
upon them. It is evident, from the Scriptures, that 
in some cases the voice of the whole Church is to 
be regarded ; but it is clear that Church interests 
are, to a very large extent, under the control of 
ministers. '' Remember them that have the rule 
over you, who have spoken unto you the word of 
God." " Obey them that have the rule over you, 
and submit yourself: for they watch for your souls, 
as they that must give account, that they may do 



34^^ Lecture XV. 

it with joy, and not with grief." (Heb. xiii, 7, 17.) 
"Let the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of 
double honor, especially they who labor in the word 
and doctrine." (i Tim. v, 17.) "And we beseech 
you, brethren, to know them which labor among 
you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish 
}'ou ; and to esteem them very highly in love, for 
their work's sake." (i Thess. v, 12, 13.) From these 
passages it is clear that those who labor in word and 
doctrine, who speak to the people the word of God, 
are rulers. It is, also, clear that they are not above 
the people so far as to be independent lords over 
God's heritage. The people are to distinguish those 
who rule well with double honor. If a certain de- 
gree of respect is due them on account of their 
office, much more is to be awarded to those who 
fill the office well. 

The ecclesiastical system of the New Testament 
is extremely simple. There is no hierarchy, no 
system of principalities and overgrown dignities. 
No man can make out from the New Testament 
more than two orders in the ministry — bishops and 
deacons. That bishops and elders are presbyters, 
are one in office, or that these terms were used for 
the same order, is clear from Acts xx, 17, 28. Those 
who are called elders in the former of these places 
are denominated overseers in the latter ; and the 
word here translated overseer is the same that is 
elsewhere translated bisJiop. (See also Titus i, 5-7.) 
In this place the apostle enumerates the qualifica- 
tions of an elder. He " must be blameless, the hus- 
band of one wife, having fi\ithful children, not ac- 
cused of riot or unruly. For a BISHOP must b^ 



Errors of the Papacy. 347 

blameless as the steward of God." An elder must 
be so and so, because these qualifications are requisite 
for a bishop. One office only is expressed by these 
two words. Nothing can be clearer. Paul depu- 
tized Timothy to settle and arrange the affairs of 
the Church at Ephesus, and gave him special in- 
structions that he might know how he ought to be- 
have himself in the house of God. The design 
evidently was that the administration of the Church 
there might be established on a firm basis, for com- 
ing time. To this end it was a matter of first con- 
sequence that the ministry should be constituted on 
the true model. In doing this, he provides for 
bishops and deacons, and none other. (See i Tim. iii, 
throughout.) When the same apostle wrote to the 
Church at Philippi, it had been in existence for 
several years, and was in a very flourishing condi- 
tion. Indeed, he commends no other Church so 
highly as he does this one. Its polity had, doubt- 
less, been established, and its ministry provided, 
upon the true New Testament model. In his salu- 
tation of the Church he addresses its ministers par- 
ticularly, and that by their proper official designation 
— bishops and deacons. 

Now, take into consideration the fact shown in 
the passages that I have given, that the terms bishop 
and elder are two words for the same order, and the 
fact that bishops and deacons are, at least in two 
places, formally named as comprising the whole min- 
istry, and the conclusion is irresistible that these 
two are the only orders known to the Church under 
the new dispensation. What becomes of the seven 
orders of Romanism ? Like the se7>en sacraments of 



348 Lecture XV. 

the same Church, just five of them have been in- 
vented and patented at Rome. In fact, the Roman- 
ists are equal to the Yankees for invention — only in 
a different line. In the ecclesiastical schedule alone 
we have priests, archdeacons, archbishops, cardinals, 
and I know not what all, in an ascending series of 
power and dignity, culminating in the Pope. In 
what contrast does it appear with the simple, pa- 
ternal administration of the primitive Church ! And 
these illegitimate dignities have opened the door to 
untold abuses. Once on the highway of ambitious 
ascent, a man knows not where to stop. No senti- 
ment is more commanding or unscrupulous than the 
lust of power, and that lust is always bred in the 
temptation of dignities and lordly prerogatives. 
Accordingly, history groans with the record of facts 
illustrating the grasping propensities of aspiring 
ecclesiastics. The area of authority has, in in- 
numerable cases, been extended over the secular 
field. Wherever she could, Rome has had a finger 
in civil legislation. The temporal monarchy of 
the Pope is a standing witness against her in this 
respect. 

3. The ministers of Christ are divinely designated 
for the work. " How shall they preach except they be 
sent?" Necessity is laid upon a man to preach the 
gospel. A divine impulsion presses him until he ex- 
claims, '* Woe is me if I preach not the gospel ! " A 
conviction of duty, divinely produced, does not in- 
volve inspiration. This conviction may fasten upon a 
man so pertinaciously as to allow him no rest until he 
yield to the divine demand upon him. Any fanat- 
ical mistake as to the source of the conviction which 



Errors of the Papacy. 349 

a man of ardent temperament may claim, is duly 
guarded against by the judgment of the Church as 
to his character and qualifications. The qualifica- 
tions by which the Church is to judge those who 
look to the ministerial work are largely given in 
I Tim. iii, 2, 9 ; 2 Tim. ii, 23, 26 ; and Titus i, 5, 9. 
Piety, devotion to God, propriety of deportment, 
chastity, good government of his own children, with 
capacity and disposition to teach, comprise the chief 
requisites of a m.inister of Christ. Thus divinely 
chosen, and received by the Church, he is to give 
himself wholly to that one thing. He is the Lord's 
by special vocation, and, although not cut off from 
social ties, he is to be relieved of secular cares. 
" They that preach the gospel shall live of the gos- 
pel." He cares for the souls of his flock ; they pro- 
vide for his body. He cares for them in spiritual 
things, and they for him in temporal things. 

The chief points of contrast between the ministers 
of the Pope's Church and those of Christ's, as they 
occur to me, are these : 

1. The former 3.re priests ; the latter -axq preachers 
of the gospel, 

2. The former assume to forgive sins by a personal 
judicial act ; the \2XX.qx preach remission of sins in the 
name of Christ. 

3. Ministers of Christ are required to be " blame- 
less," while priests of Rome, as expressly provided 
by the Council of Trent, are allowed to officiate in 
mortal sin. 

4. Christian ministers are, or may be, husbands, 
living chastely with one wife ; but priests are invari- 
ably required to be celibates. Concubinage is, in 



350 Lecture XV. 

some places, tolerated, as in Mexico. But they are 
nowhere allowed to be married men. In all this the 
two systems are at antipodes. 

5. The Romish priesthood is a stupendous hier- 
archy, while the Christian ministry is, in respect to 
government, a pastoral institution. 

6. The Romish claim of apostolic powers is in 
striking contrast with the unpretending modesty of 
New Testament pastors and teachers. The one is 
characterized by pretentious assumptions, the other 
by unpretending labors. 

7. The one invests a great mass of silly traditions 
with the character of revelation ; the other confines 
itself in its teachings to the word of God. 

8. The one assumes the God-like prerogative of 
prying into the secrets of all hearts in the confes- 
sional ; the other sends the penitent with the secret 
burden of his sins to God. 

These contrasts might be multiplied, but let this 
suffice. 

These astounding contrasts convey a most solemn 
warning to the Church. Her only safety is in the 
Scriptures of God. If her uninspired teachers are 
allowed to break loose from them, and make their 
own dogmas, security is gone. The wild creations 
of unfettered fancy, and the proud ambitions of as- 
piring zealots, will be wrought into the Christian 
creed, and wholly corrupt it. The Church will fall 
from its original righteousness. Superstition will 
supplant faith. And the very prerogatives of the 
Almighty will be assumed with unhesitating temer- 
ity by poor, frail, sinful man. 

But the gates of hell shall not prevail. The great 



Errors of the Papacy. 351 

waters may come in like a flood for a time, but, in 
the midst of their roaring, God will still be saying to 
his people, " Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's 
good pleasure to give you the kingdom." The 
whole earth shall ultimately rally to the Bible, and 
then righteousness shall cover it as the waves of the 
sea. 

Next Sunday evening I will call your attention 
to the unscriptural character of the worship of the 
Roman Church. And the author of an anonymous 
letter, written on his own behalf, and on behalf of 
some forty others, is notified that he shall receive a 
satisfactory response at that time. 



352 Lecture XVI. 



LECTURE XVI. 

DIGRESSION — CORRUPTIONS OF WORSHIP. 

I HAVE received a communication, from some 
unknown friend, who admits that most of my 
statements and arguments are unanswerable, but 
supposes that he discovers inaccuracy in one case. 
When I stated, some time ago, in one of my lectures 
on transubstantiation, that, if that doctrine were true, 
there was not only a miracle involved, but the^-reatest 
of all miracles, he, by a singular misapprehension, un- 
derstood me to say that the priests claimed, by their 
own power, to produce the result. If my language, 
either in delivering the lecture, or in the report of it, 
bears any such construction, I am greatly mistaken. 
I did certainly sa}^ that if transubstantiation be a 
miracle, it transcends all others. I say so still. Of 
course I make no allusion to the fact of the Incarna- 
tion in this statement. That fact stands alone in the 
history of our world, and also, I doubt not, in the his- 
tory of the universe. But if Christ be produced in 
his whole person, in transubstantiation, it is not only 
greater, but infijiitely greater, than any other miracle 
on record. At first there was but bread on the altar ; 
now there is Christ, produced through the agency hi 
the priest — Christ, in his divine as well as in his hu- 
man nature. The argument, in connection with which 
this statement was made, was, if I remember correct- 



Errors of the Papacy. 353 

ly, that a miracle so much greater than others ought 
to be one which should be known by its phenomena. 
All other miracles were so known, and by so much 
as this is greater than they, there is greater reason 
that it be accompanied by the same testimony. 

When a human agent is connected with the pro- 
duction of a miracle, the power is of God ; but it se- 
cures great credit to the agent, for we are not to sup- 
pose that God would work in this way by means of 
a man whom he did not intend to indorse to the 
people. And the credit which the agent enjoys is 
proportioned to the character of the miracle. It 
enhanced the reputation of Paul greatly that hand- 
kerchiefs, carried from his person, should be the 
means of healing the sick. As the miracles of Moses, 
in Egypt, increased in terribleness and extent, his 
reputation became greater. And certainly the first 
place among miracle-workers must be assigned to 
those under whose words Christ is produced on the 
altar. By all means in the world, then, those who 
claim such high credit ought to vindicate their pre- 
tentions by some evidence that they have done what 
they say they have. All other miracles were such 
as proved themselves, and above all others this one 
ought to do so. 

My friend further supposes that the idea of tran- 
substantiation is no more difficult of belief than the 
fact of the Incarnation, or the Shekinah of the Jews. 
The Shekinah was a ma7iifestation of the Divine 
presence of the Mercy Seat, in the Holy of Holies, 
in the Temple. Toward that place, therefore, the 
Jew worshiped. It differs from transubstantiation in 



354 Lecture XVI. 

this fact, that in the latter there is no manifestation 
of God's presence whatever. Nothing is manifest but 
the bread and wine. And that the comparison of 
transubstantiation with the Incarnation is not legiti- 
mate, I think my correspondent will see, when he re- 
members that there was but one incarnation. God 
was manifest in the flesh, indeed. But the Romish 
dogma teaches that bread is made flesh, and that 
Christ, in his divine nature, becomes incarnate in the 
flesh so produced. And more than that, that Christ, 
whole and entire^ body, blood, soul and divinity, is in 
every wafer, and in each fragment of every wafer, 
when it is divided. And so of every separate portion 
of the wine. Why, in the last few centuries Christ 
has been, by this theory, reproduced on Papal altars, 
"whole and entire," until his multitudinous individu- 
ality must be sufficient to populate a universe. I 
know not what your arithmetical perceptions may be, 
but according to mine, wherever there is reproduc- 
tion there is multiplication. In the incarnation 
Christ was produced ; but in transubstantiation he is 
reproduced, which is an absurdity, for reproduction 
can only propagate the species by the multiplication 
of individuals. Reproduction of an individual cannot 
be. Nor can an individual be multiplied. 

The author of this letter, of wdiich I have been 
speaking, is evidently a man who thinks, and is ca- 
pable of thinking accurately. I am pleased to num- 
ber such men amongst my auditors. But, I think, 
he will admit, upon a review of my lectures, that he 
missed the point I made. Or, if I misunderstand him, 
I hope he will give me the pleasure of a personal in- 



Errors of the Papacy. 355 

terview, by which means we shall, no doubt, be able 
to understand each other. 

I have yet another letter, to which I have promised 
to give a satisfactory response. It purports to come 
from some forty Methodists. It is an ominous docu- 
ment, and portends disaster. I will read it, that you 
may understand the danger which threatens me. It 
incloses this fragment (holding up a scrap of news- 
paper) of a lecture, recently delivered in our city. 
Listen, and " you that have tears to shed, prepare to 
shed them now." 

St Louis March 2d '60. 
E M Marvin 
Rev Sir 

Inclosed you will find a abstract of the Rev lectui-e as 

you will See By it he want to know which of the deferent 
churches claim to be the church of christ. Now as you have 
taken up the cudgel in defenc we as members of your church 
want you to prove on next Sunday week, that the methodist 
church south and that, alone is that church and no other Now 
if you will not prove it we shall cease to members of your 
church as there is about forty of us with this understanding 

Yours one of the many 

From certain "marks and brands," I judge this to 
be of Teutonic origin, and the truth is, it is rather 
too-tonic. The writer of it overshot his mark. I give 
it literatim, except a proper name after the " Rev." 

Methodists are in no slavish dread of their pastors, 

nor of each other. They express themselves freely 

and independently. Any one who knows them knows 

that no forty of them would have been discussing 

Romanism and Protestantism, with a suspicion of the 

legitimacy of their Church, until they were almost 
23 



35^ Lecture XVI. 

ready to leave it, while yet their pastors and brethren 
knew nothing of it at all. Methodists don't take 
their measures so slyly. They go about their purposes 
openly and above board. 

If a Methodist had written me on such a subject, 
he would have given his name. Besides that, {he 
whole spirit of the letter shows its object. I have no 
doubt that I am the first Methodist who ever saw it. 
Possibly, some mischievous boy wrote it, for I am 
scarcely able to believe that so shallow a trick could 
have originated in an older brain. If the writer is 
present, he will, no doubt, admit that I have redeemed 
my pledge to answer him satisfactorily. 

But it is time to turn from this recreation to more 
sober work. The corruptions of worship in the Ro- 
man Church are to engage our attention this evening 
■ — a most important theme. For a text, I refer you to 
John iv, 24 : ** God is a Spirit, and they that wor- 
ship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." 

This is the language of our Saviour. It occurs in 
conversation with the woman of Samaria, at Jacob's 
well. She attempted to draw him into a dispute as 
to the comparative claims of the Jewish and Samar- 
itan places of worship. He promptly assured her that 
the worship of God was above all questions of local- 
ity. The true worship is determined by facts totally 
different from this. "The hour cometh" when all 
such questions between places shall be laid aside. 
Our Lord, indeed, asserted, with great propriety, that 
salvation was of the Jews, but he dwells not a mo- 
ment there. He immediately proceeds to the vital 
truth of worship, and announces the great fact which 



Errors of the Papacy. 357 

controls every true conception of it, *'God is a 
Spirit." 

I. Let us for a moment contemplate this glorious 
truth, " God is a Spirit." 

We cannot " find out the Almighty to perfection." 
But the noblest effort of intelligence is the effort to 
know what may be known of him. And we may 
know much. Yet, when we have learned all that is 
possible to us, infinitely more remains that we can 
never know. The mind can perceive what it is that 
belongs distinctively to the Divine Being, but is 
wholly unable to comprehend it. We have a definite 
idea of the infinite, yet we can by no means grasp it. 
We can enumerate the attributes of the Divine Na- 
ture, one by one, and we form an intelligent idea of 
them, but our thought does not encompass them. 
Omnipotence expresses to us the power to which 
nothing is impossible, nothing difficult. An atom 
and a universe are produced with equal facility. To 
make and to uphold a universe are but recreations. 
Omniscience is the quality of a mind to which all 
facts, all contingencies, all possibilities, are distinctly 
and perfectly present, in all their relations and as- 
pects ; which reasons with absolute precision, and 
without process ; to which no combination is intri- 
cate, no paradox perplexing ; and from which no 
covert is a shelter, no distance remote. Omnipres- 
ence is Godhead in all its fullness, at every point of 
space, at the same instant of time. The Divine Es- 
sence does not spread itself out to occupy measure- 
less extension, but is, so to speak, in repletion every- 
where. These statements convey, not vague, but 



358 Lecture XVI. 

distinct ideas to the mind. We see clearly what 
their meaning is, but the extent of the meaning we 
do not see. 

But the Divine Essence, what is it } Spirit } 
What is Spirit } 

I can tell you what spirit docs. It thinks, reasons, 
remembers, imagines, feels, wills. But what is spir- 
it } I can tell you no more. And perhaps you 
would find it difficult to give a closer definition of 
matter than I have given of spirit. If I ask what 
matter is, you will proceed to enumerate its proper- 
ties. If I insist that I did not ask for its properties, 
but what it is, you will reply that the only notion of 
its nature possible to us is that which we form from 
a knowledge of its properties. They are its manifes- 
tations. Just so spirit has its manifestations, and 
may be described by them. 

Yet we certainly have a more distinct idea of ma- 
terial than of spiritual essences. Our notion of 
them is better defined. Sensation takes cognizance 
of their properties. What spirit does we can very 
well perceive, but its essence evades us. It seems 
intangible, vague, shadowy, sublimated. And per- 
haps we lose sight of a most important distinction 
sometimes — the distinction between spirit and its at- 
tributes, between spitit and tJiotigJit. 

Thought is a property of spirit, but it is not spirit 
itself, any more than inertia is matter. Spirit is a 
SUBSTANCE. We are so fenced in by the material, 
and so dependent upon it now ; the processes of 
feeling, percepiion, and thought are so subject to its 
conditions, that we experience a constant tendency 



Errors of the Papacy. 359 

to regard it as the only substance. What a miscon- 
ception ! The spiritual is pre-eminently substantial. 
The properties of matter are passive^ those of spirit 
are active. That must be a firmer basis of existence 
which both is and acts, than that which simply is. 
To be, is predicable alike of spirit and matter ; to do, 
is predicable only of spirit. The idea of substaitce, 
then, must enter into every just conception of spirit. 
Yet the texture of this substance is unknown. 

Indeed, the original substance, and that which is 
the source of all other, is the Divine Being. But 
this substance is not material. God is without body 
and parts. In thinking of him we are to guard 
equally against a gross, material conception, and a 
shadowy, unsubstantial one. What a basis of power 
is there in the Maker of all worlds ! Whatever is 
essential to Being belongs to spirit. 

God is an infinite Spirit — infinite in every property 
that enters into perfect Being. He is 2^ ptire Spirit. 
That is, first, he is nothing but Spirit, and, secondly, 
he is a Spirit absolutely free from defilement. He is 
holy. He is not the only holy being, but in this, as 
in all things, his nature is infinitely above others. 
With creatures, holiness is a qiiality ; with him it is 
an attribute. It is not essential to their identity ; to 
his it is. 

We have now before the mind God, " an infinite 
and pure Spirit," Creator, Preserver, Sovereign. 

II. God is to be worshiped. '*Thou shalt worship 
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." 
He will not share his honor with any. 

The worship of God is the humble and affectionate 







6o Lecture XVI. 



recognition of his person and his glory. This recog- 
nition may be the mere act of the soul unexpressed, 
or it may be expressed. The expression of it may be 
made in words, as confession, supplication, adnlation ; 
or in acts, as in prostration. To render worship to 
any other except God is idolatry. 

Whether the Roman Church has so far corrupted 
her worship as to be justly chargeable with idolatry 
or not, I shall not, on this occasion, at least, pro- 
nounce. I shall only give a statement of fact, and 
leave every auditor to decide for himself. 

I. Great honor is bestowed on relics in that 
Church. As usual, I get my information at head- 
quarters. (See Council of Trent, Sess. xxv,) " On 
the invocation, veneration, and relics of saints, and 
on sacred images." " The holy bodies of holy mar- 
tyrs, and of others now living with Christ — which 
bodies were the living members of Christ, and the 
temple of the Holy Ghost, and which are by him to 
be raised to eternal life, and to be glorified — are to 
be venerated by the faithful ; through which (bodies) 
many benefits are bestowed by God on men ; so that 
they who aflfirm that veneration and honor are not 
due to the relics of saints ; or that these and other 
sacred monuments are uselessly honored by the faith- 
ful ; and that the places dedicated to the memories 
of the saints are in vain visited with the view of ob- 
taining their aid ; are wholly to be condemned, as 
the Church has already long since condemned, and 
now, also, condemns them." In this we are taught, 
first, that througJi the relics of saints God bestows 
benefits on men ; secondly, that those relics are to 



Errors of the Papacy. 361 

be venerated ; and, thirdly, that the places dedicated 
to the memories of the saints are to be visited with 
the view of obtaining their aid. 

Now God has never commanded his people to use 
relics as a means of obtaining benefits from him, nor 
has he intimated any such thing. Where is God's 
promise that he will bestow benefits through the 
bones of the departed ? It is not to be found. Not 
in all the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ment. The bones of Joseph were preserved, indeed, 
in Egypt, and carried back to Canaan. But it was 
at his own request, and the object was that he might 
at last be buried with his fathers. In their most de- 
generate days the Jews never descended to such a 
superstition as the use of relics for the purpose of 
obtaining divine benefits, or the venerating of them 
as instruments of grace. 

In the place already cited the Council inculcates 
the complimenting of saints by dedicating places to 
their memories. Hence the Churches dedicated to St. 
Peter, and to St. Patrick, and to St. Francis Xavier, 
etc. And we are given to understand that the saints 
appreciate the compliment, and so may be expected 
to receive propitiously those who visit such places to 
obtain their aid. Such is the place which relics and 
monuments of the saints hold in the Roman theory 
of worship according to her authentic standard. I 
submit these questions : Do they not divert the mind 
of the worshiper from the Scriptural channels of 
grace to unscriptural and superstitious ones "i And 
does not the attention shown to relics interfere to 
that extent with the single, undivided worship of 







62 Lecture XVI. 



God ? For this attention is connected with devo- 
tion, inasmuch as the rehcs which are the objects of 
it are channels of grace. 

Wonderful stories are told of miracles performed 
by means of relics ; but, I am told, the privilege of 
zoitNcssing such a miracle is the rarest thing in the 
world. 

2. Images, as near as I can gather, take prece- 
dence of relics, in Papal homage. "By the images 
which we kiss, and before which we uncover the head, 
and PROSTRATE OURSELVES, we adore Christ ; and 
we venerate the saints, whose similitude they bear." 
(See Council of Trent, at the place cited already.) I 
have said that worship is expressed by prostration of 
the body. So clear is this that it is expressed in 
that commandment of the decalogue which regulates 
worship. The use of images in worship is specifically 
prohibited, and particularly and with emphasis is bow- 
ing DOWN to them forbidden, for the reason that the 
Lord our God is a jealous God, and will not see his 
glory given to another. But the Roman Church 
both uses images in her worship, which is forbidden, 
and uses them in that very way which is specifically 
prohibited — the worshiper is to prostrate himself be- 
fore them. 

Now, notice these facts : First, the second com- 
mandment of the decalogue is the one which has re- 
spect to worship. (In the Protestant enumeration it 
is the second ; in the Romanist enumeration it is a 
portion of the first.) Secondly, in this command- 
ment \\i\s> primary law of worship, prostration, is par- 
ticularly named as an act of worship. Thirdly, pros- 



Errors of the PArAcv. 363 

tration to images, of every conceivable description, 
is, therefore, solemnly prohibited. Now, compare 
all this with the language of the Council of Trent, 
already given. Prostration before images is author- 
ized, if not enjoined ; and the practice of Romanists 
in this matter is well known. Is the performance of 
this act of worship to an image idolatry, or is it 
not } I do not decide the question for you. I give 
you FACTS which no man can dispute, and from these 
you are to make up your verdict. 

In my lecture on tradition I said something of the 
suppression and corruption of this law of worship, 
the second commandment, in various catechisms of 
the Romish Church. I hold in my hand now the 
" Poor Man's Catechism," New York : Edward 
Dunigan and Brother; published in 1853. IX. gross- 
ly corrupts this commandment. I will give it to you 
as it stands here on p. 108, verbatim: "Thou shalt 
not make to thyself any graven thing, nor the like- 
ness of any thing, etc. Thou shalt not ado7'e nor 
worship them." Now turn to Exodus xx and read 
the ten commandments, and compare this with the 
genuine commandment. It is fair to presume that 
the Romanist " poor man," for whom the catechism 
is intended, scarcely ever sees a Bible. He knows 
the commandments only through his catechism and 
his teachers. Alas for him, the commandment is 
corrupted ; his catechism utters a falsehood when it 
pretends to give him God's law ; it suppresses the 
words " bow down thyself ,' and substitutes " adored 
And so the "poor man" bows himself down to im- 
ages, and knows not that he thereby breaks the law 



364 Lecture XVI. 

of God. The "poor man," whose teacher is this cat- 
echism, is to be most deeply commiserated. But 
what of the makers of such catechisms ? I am not 
their judge. But the day draweth nigh when they 
shall meet Him face to face who is "a jealous God." 

But the Romanists positively deny that they wor- 
ship images. The Council of Trent disclaims it ex- 
pressly. Yes, I know that. But see here — this is 
the question : Does the Romanist do that which, ac- 
cordi7ig to the second commafidment, is worship ^ Does 
he perforin this act to images ? And does the great 
Council of Trent endorse the act .-^ Judge ye. The 
question is not whether they admit the act to be idol- 
atrous, but whether, according to the Bible, it is so. 

3. The " faithful " of the Roman Church are taught, 
(and they are to be diligently instructed in this,) 
" that the saints, who reign together with Christ, 
offer up their own prayers to God for men ; that it is 
good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and to 
have recourse to their prayers, aid, and help for ob- 
taining benefits from God, through his Son, Jesus 
Christ our Lord, who is our alone Redeemer and 
Saviour." (Council of Trent, London Ed., pp. 233, 
234.) I call attention especially to the following 
facts : First, according to the Council of Trent, 
saints are to be snppliantly invoked. Whether any 
one except our Maker is a proper object of suppliant 
invocation or not, I leave you to say. " Let us kneel 
before the Lord our Maker," said an inspired wor- 
shiper. But who, of all the ancient saints, on his 
knees, raised a suppliant voice to any one of the 
armies of heaven } This invoking of saints, and that 



Errors of the Papacy. 365 

suppliantly, is a species of devotion unknown to Holy 
Scriptures. There is not an example amongst patri- 
archs, prophets, or apostles. Not one. Not one. 
The only prayer offered to a saint, of which we have 
any account in Scripture, was made in hell ! It was 
the prayer of the rich man offered to Abraham. 
Such is the single deplorable example which Roman- 
ists follow in this practice. Secondly, the object of 
invoking saints is to secure " their prayers, aid, and 
help for obtaining benefits from God." It makes so 
many mediators of them. Do we need their m.edia- 
tion 1 I will recur to this subject before the close of 
my lecture. Thirdly, this practice promotes false 
notions of the saints, and involves an absurdity. 
That any saint can hear the invocation, and attend 
to the requests, of some millions of worshipers at 
once, no sane person can believe. Both men and 
women, scattered over Europe and America, call on 
the same saint at once, and each one devoutly be- 
lieves that the saint is listening to him. The more 
popular of the saints have their hands full, certainly. 
A little illustrative scene occurred in my ofBce the 
other day. Two or three gentlemen who are now in 
the audience witnessed it. A blind man came in, 
led by another who was half blind, and as he entered 
I said, "My friend, you want a dime, don't you.-*" 
" If your riverence plase," said he. " Well, I guess 
you must have it." He received the trifle with many 
expressions of thankfulness, and, true to his race, 
must, of course, say something pertinent. " I pray 
the Lord ye may niver know the want of eyesight." 
" Wont you pray to the Virgin Mary for me, too ? " 



366 Lecture XVI. 

said I. ** Indadc, indade I will, your riverence." 
" Perhaps you had better not, though," said I ; "I 
am afraid she would not hear you." " Indade, though, 
she tt'///." " But there are a great many people pray- 
ing to her in Ireland all the while, and if she is at- 
tending to them, she will have all she can do, I fear." 
" Indade, she hears ivery body, sir." " Is she pres- 
ent, then, every-where at once } " " To be sure she 
is, your riverence." Thus was I instructed in JMari- 
ology by a poor, blind begg"ar. Invocation of saints 
has this direct tendency to deify them in the appre- 
hension of the suppliant. 

Romanists justify the practice by an appeal to the 
prayers which we offer for each other in this life, a 
thing which no one condemns. But there are these 
palpable diti'erences between the two customs. First, 
we are commanded in Holy Scripture to " confess our 
faults one to another, and pray one for another." But 
we are fwt commanded to look to the glorified saints 
for their prayers. Secondly, common wants and dan- 
gers make it very appropriate that we should enter 
into each other's solicitudes and pray for each other. 
** The sweet charities of life," of the Christian life, 
are therebv cultivated. Thirdly, there is no danger 
that this habit should degenerate into superstition, 
such as that which deludes a thousand men at once, 
while praying to the same saint in the vain hope of 
being heard. Your brother is by your side, and you 
ask him to prav for you. You know he is present 
and hoars you. But you are in no danger of falling 
upon your knees, and ** suppliantly invoking" him to 
intercede for you. The delightful privilege which 



Errors of the Papacy. 367 

God has expressly given us, of reciprocal and united 
interest at the " throne of grace," affords no shelter 
to the practice which God has not sanctioned, of in- 
voking saints. This practice of justifying one thing 
on the ground that, in a single aspect, it is like some 
other thing that is good, is most reprehensible. 

4. Not saints only, but angels also, are applied to 
suppliantly by Romanists. I hold in my hand a book 
entitled the ** Ursuline Manual." It is a " collection 
of prayers, spiritual exercises, etc., interspersed with 
the various instructions necessary for forming youtlT 
to the practice oi solid piety. Originally arranged for 
the young ladies educated at the Ursuline Convent, 
Cork. Revised by the Very Rev. John Power, and 
approved by the Right Rev. Bishop Hughes, New 
York ; published by Edward Dunigan, No. 137 Ful- 
ton-street, 1839." The following is a portion of a 
morning prayer : " O blessed Angel ! to whose holy 
care I am committed by the supreme clemency, illu- 
minate, defend, and govern me this day ; preserve 
me particularly from sin, and watch over me at the 
awful moment of death." (P. 57.) This, I take it, is a 
prayer to the guardian angel. If there be a guardian 
angel attending each child of God, the fact is but 
hinted in Holy Scripture in so distant a manner as by 
no means to justify implicit faith. If any one believes 
it, it is a pleasant thought. And if it be true, doubt- 
less God knew how prone men are to venerate too 
highly those celestial beings who sustain such a rela- 
tion to us, and for this reason has given us at most 
no more than an intimation of it. Now, this prayer to 
the angel is not to secure his intercession, as the 



3oS Lectukf XV T. 

Council of Trent teaches in the invocation of saints, 
but for direct benefits ; and such, too, as fwne but 
Go(/ can bestow. " liluminatCy dtfcnd^ and govern me 
this day : ffrsi^nr me fart ten iarly from sin'' To sup- 
pHcate an angel for such grace — is it, or is it not, 
IDOLATRY ? At any rate, it is a pmyer put into the 
mouth of Romanist youth in this country, in a manual 
of piety ^Yidely circulated, and approved bv the most 
distiuiTuished diiinitarv of that Church in the United 
States. 

5. The Roman Church is accustomed at times to 
celebrate certain masses in honor and memory of the 
saints, in which the priest, " giving thanks to God 
for their victories, implores their patronage, that they 
may vouchsafe to intercede for us in heaven, whose 
memory we celebrate upon earth." (Council of Trent, 
p. ISS.'^ Again. " If any one Sviith it is an imposture 
to celebrate masses in honor of the saints, and for ob- 
taining their intercession with God as the Church in- 
tends, let him be anathema." This w.is too important 
a point to pass without cursing all giiinsax ors You 
know what the mass is — Christ is sai'ri/;\(\i to God 
in it whenever it is celebrated. Now. what are 
these masses in honor of the saints ? Simply this, 
of course, that Ckrist is sacrifieed in compliment to 
the saints/iw consideration of which compliment or 
" honor," they are expected to become so complaisant 
as " to intercede for us in heaven." Is that the wor- 
ship of God } 

6. There is a species of devotion greatly in vogue 
among Romanists, which has been very expressively 
denominated J/ario/atrr. Is there a ^^.oddess in :ht» 



Errors or the Papacy. 369 

Romanist theology ? Don't be startled — I am in 
sober earnest. There is ground for the interrogatory. 
This will appear : 

First. In the titles bestowed upon the Virgin Mary. 
She is called, in their terminology, Mother of God ! 
(Council of Trent, p. 24.) Mary is called in Scripture 
the mother of the Lord, but never the Mother of God. 
The viroin's Son was to be called Immanuel. She 
was the mother of that person in whom God is with 
ns. But that she was, indeed, the parent of any other 
than the human nature of Christ, no sober person can 
believe. A creature in the relation of mother to the 
Divine nature, or to the Divine Being ! I do not 
pretend to fathom the mystery of the Incarnation. 
But the reader of the Gospels will see at once that, 
from first to last, no such position is given to Mary 
as this title implies. And this title, doubtless, pre- 
pared the way for another, which is constantly met 
with in the current literature and the devotional 
works of the Roman Church. Mary is called the 
Queen of Heaven. (See Ursuline Manual, pp. 60, 
65, etc.) Queen of Heaven ! Is this a goddess } 
We know who the King of Heaven is — King of 
kings and Lord of lords. But our Bible knows no 
Queen. The idea is utterly unworthy of the Chris- 
tian theology. It has the savor of mythology. It is 
pagan. It reminds you of Osiris. Romanism has 
staggered backward an immeasurable distance in re- 
ligious belief to inaugurate a celestial queen. 

Secondly. How closely Mary verges upon the hon- 
ors of a female divinity will appear in the character 
of the devotions paid her. Take some specimens : 



370 Lecture XVI. 

First. Prayers to the Virgin occupy a large, a very 
large, place in the Roman worship. Page after page 
in the Ursuline Manual, and smaller books, are filled 
with them. That you may see what the nature of 
these prayers is, I will give you a few. I have not 
time for many. The following is from the Litany 
of Loretto : " Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother 
of God, Holy Virgin of virgins, Mother of Christ, 
Mother of Divine Grace, Mother most pure, Mother 
most chaste, Mother undefiled. Mother inviolated, 
Mother most amiable, Mother most admirable, Moth- 
er of our Creator, Mother of our Redeemer, Virgin 
most prudent, Virgin most venerable, Virgin most 
renowned. Virgin most powerful, Virgin most merci- 
ful, Virgin most faithful, Mirror of justice. Seat of 
wisdom. Cause of joy. Spiritual Vessel, Vessel of 
honor, Vessel of singular devotion, Mystical rose, 
Tower of David, Tower of ivory, House of gold. Ark 
of the Covenant, Gate of Heaven, Morning Star, 
Health of the weak, Refuge of sinners, Comfortress 
of the afflicted. Help of Christians, Queen of angels, 
Queen of patriarchs, Queen of prophets, Queen of 
apostles. Queen of martyrs. Queen of confessors. 
Queen of virgins, Queen of all ^^SxiX.?,^ pray for iisT 
(Ursuline Manual, pp. 417, 418.) In this prayer I 
only call your attention to a few out of the many 
titles bestowed on the Virgin. She is called Mother 
of our Creator y Seat of Wisdom, A 7'k of the Covenant, 
Gate of Heaven, Mornitig Star, Refuge of sinners. 
Think what is implied in each of these. You need 
no comment from me. Take, also, ^' A devont prayer 
of St. Bernard to the Blessed Virgin," on pages 71-2 : 



Errors of the Papacv. 371 

" Remember, O most pious Virgin, that it lias never 
been heard of, in any age, that those who implored 
thy powerful protection, were abandoned by thee, I 
therefore, O sacred Virgin, animated with the most 
lively confidence, 'cast myself at thy sacred feet, most 
ear7iestly beseeching thee to adopt me as thy child, to 

TAKE CARE OF MY ETERNAL SALVATION, and tO Watch 

over me at the hour of death. O do not, Mother of 
the Word Incarnate ! despise my prayer, but gra- 
ciously hear and obtain the grant of my petitions. 
Amen." One of the prayers to her commences, " O 
ever-glorious Virgin Mary ! " and closes thus : " And 
when the dreadful hour of death comes, O holy Mary, 
Mother of God, pray for me, support me, defend me, 
and plead for me so powerfully with God, that I may 
die in the friendship of my Creator, a?id reap for all 
eternity the happy fruits of having bee?i sincerely de- 
voted TO thee. Amen." (Pp. 33.9, 340.) Another 
has this petition : " O Mother of grace and fnercy, ref- 
uge of sinners, may I, through thy powerful interces- 
sion, be delivered from all sin, and preserved from 
eternal death." (P. 58.) I give you one more speci- 
men on p. 59 : ** Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! 
our life, our sweetness, our hope. To thee do we 
cry, poor banished children of Eve ; to thee do we 
send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this 
valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate^ 
thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our 
painful exile, show unto us that blessed fruit of thy 
womb, Jesus. O clement ! O pious ! O sweet Virgin 
Mary ! " Do not, then, these prayers, in some of their 

expressions, imply divine homage to the Virgin .^ Do 
24 



37^ Lecture XVT. 

thov not look to her for divine blessing ? " Take oare 
of my salvation." 

Secondly, I ask your attention to the adulation di- 
rectly offered to hor : " O hol\' "Marv, Mother of Goi], 
Queen of angels and of men, / Jionor and reverence 
ihee icit/t oil my Iicart!' (P. 58.') On p. 60 there is 
a poetical effusion to her. '* Triumph, O Queen of 
Heaven, to see, Alleluia, Sacred Infant, born of thee, 
Alleluia." In " The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin," 
wo have at the close. " The Crowning of the Blessed 
Virgin." in which there is this acclamation: "Queen 
of angels and men ! acknowledged as such in heaven 
and on cartli. under the boundless authority of thy 
Son, graciously accept the homage we have pre- 
sented to thee in this rosary." (V. 375-^ I ^^^1^^ y<^^i^ 
at the outset that I should not assume to decide for 
}ou, whether the worship of Rome is idolatrous or 
not. I have my own view oi the subject, and vou 
have the facts in part : and will torm vour own i^pin- 
ions from them. This much I will sav : it seems to 
me to be extremely JSlarioIatrous. 

Vou will, perhaps, meet with Romanists who will 
deny that they pray to saints, and affirm that they 
only ask the saints to prav for them. Let us turn to 
our Ursuline Manual. What have wc here ) " .\ 
j raver to St. Augustine." ** A prayer io St. Angela." 
" .V prayer to St. Ursula." " A prayer to St. Aloy- 
sius." *' A nKVOUT pniycr of St. Bernard to the 
Blessed Virgin." (^Fp. 71. 350. 351. 35-. "> Indeed. 
those addresses have all the forms o\ pmyer, and are 
solemnly olfered on the knees. Thcv ask for such 
things as God alone can bestow. .As, for instance, 



Errors of the Papacy. 373 

in the prayer to St. Aloysiiis : "Defend me against 
the dangers of the world ; direct me in the choice of 
a state of life." 

In the main, however, these prayers to the saints 
do look to them as intercessors and advocates. ''Re- 
ceive me as thy client^' says the suppliant to St. Aloy- 
siiis. But Jesus Christ is our advocate in heaven. 
We are directed by inspired authority to him, and no 
other. To look to another is to divert attention from 
him, and is a positive infringement of worship. " If 
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, 
Jesus Christ, the righteous." (i John ii, i.) "It is 
Christ that died ; yea, rather, that is risen again, 
who is even at the right hand of God, who, also, 
maketh intercession for us." (Rom. viii, 34.) "Where- 
fore he is able to save them to the uttermost that 
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to 
make intercession for them." (Heb. vii, 25.) " For 
there is one God, and ojie Mediator between God and 
men, the man Christ Jesus." (i Tim. ii, 5.) He 
who knows the value and capacity of this Advocate 
will scarcely look for any other. The Roman solicit- 
ors and attorneys can show us no authenticated li- 
cense to plead in that court where our cause lies. 
We have had counsel assigned us by the Court ; we 
are satisfied with it. We rest our cause with Him. 

But the most remarkable thing is, that they have 
actually intruded a mediator between us and Christ ! 
In their devotions, they are taught to look to Mary 
to interpose her good offices with him on their be- 
half. "Obtain for me from thy divine Son Jesus, 
that I may be forever his true and faithful servant." 



374 Lecture XVI. 

(Ursuline Manual, p. 58.") This crowns the cHmax. 
As if we needed an intercessor with our Elder 
Brother ! As if Dicdiation were necessary between 
us and Jesus ! I can very well understand how a 
mediator is required for me before the infinite Sov- 
ereign, in whose sight I have become offensive, by the 
violation of his law. That m}- way should be opened 
to him by an advocate, is both consonant with rea- 
son, and clearly stated in Scripture. And the Son 
became incarnate for this very purpose, that he 
might perform the whole office of mediation between 
us and God. 

Now, behold the Mediator ! the God-man. He 
was constituted for this very office. On the One 
hand, he is human, and we can approach him confi- 
dently, with full assurance of his sympathy ; on the 
other, he is Divine, and ca)i approach the Father for 
us. He is, as the apostle affirms. *' touched with the 
feehng of our infirmities." for he " was tempted in all 
points like as we are." And yet is he "over all, God 
blessed for evermore." The weak, tempted, smitten, 
sorrowing child of earth is bound by the strong tie 
of a common nature to him. There is no temptation 
he has not felt, no sorrow he has not endured. 

"Ho ii\ I ho days of feeble flesh 

rourovl out strong cries and teal's. 
And. in his measure, /iv/j afrtsh 
What ei'cry number diiirs.-' 

Through him the lull gush of human sympathy runs 
up to the Throne oi God. and he stands and pleads 
tor us there. And more than pleads. Hear him 
speak to the Father: '* Father, /«'/7/ that they also 



Errors of the Papacy. 375 

whom thou hast given me be with me where I am." 
Here is our Brother, and yet with what confidence 
and authority he speaks to the Father ! This is the 
Advocate whom God has appointed. I can approach 
him, for he is a man, my fellow. I can trust him, 
for he is God. He is in fellowship with my woes by 
the history and memory of his own. And yet his 
voice is authoritative before the Court of Heaven, by 
infinite and eternal right. 

It is a calumny of my Saviour to intimate that I 
need an intercessor with him. My personal relations 
with the divine goverujnent are such that I need a 
Mediator in adjusting them. But zvith Christ it is 
far otherwise. He is himself that Mediator. It is a 
strange thing if we need a Mediator with our Medi- 
ator. As if he, appointed of God to be our advo- 
cate, and constituted our Elder Brother by his incar- 
nation, needed any incitement to efficiency except 
the sight of our sorrows. Hopeless are we, indeed, 
if Jesus holds us at arm's length ! But no ! " His 
melting heart and bleeding hands " are the witnesses 
of his interest. 

Before leaving this part of the subject, I must call 
your attention to yet one other fact. Is the devout 
confession of sin in order to pardon, on bended 
knees, and with bowed head, and penitent striking of 
the breast, worship "^ If so, then I submit : is not 
the priest in the confessional the object of worship t 
You say the very idea is revolting. I grant it. So 
much the greater need is there that we should under- 
stand the matter. Now I affirm that, in the confes- 
sional, the penitent goes itpon his knees to the confes^ 



37^ Lecture XVI. 

soVy bows his head, penitently smites his breast, and 
says, " I confess to the Almighty God, to the blessed 
Virgin Mary, to the blessed Michael the Archangel, 
to the blessed St. John the Baptist, to the holy apos- 
tles St. Peter and St. Paul, to all the saints in heav- 
en, and to yoiij my father, that I have sinned exceed- 
ingly, in thought, word, and deed ; through my fault, 
through my fault, through my most grievous fault." 
Then, after a minute detail of particular sins, follows 
this petition : "■ For these and all the sins of my life, I 
am most heartily sorry ; htimhly beg pardon of God, 
and penance and absolutio?i of you, my father." All 
this on his knees, in the most humble and devout way. 
(See Dr. Cahill's late sermon on the Infallibility of the 
Church, in Brooklyn, and Urs. Man., pp. i86, 187.) 
In the old mythology none but heroes ever came to 
be gods, and not even they until after they were 
dead. They must be heroes, and die, to command 
the honors of worship. Is the more recent practice 
an improvement, or a deterioration .-* 

You have now a brief and comprehensive view of 
the objects which claim the attention of the Roman- 
ist in his devotions. I have given yo\x facts and ati- 
thorities, and court investigation of my statements. 
I dread no test. I know that the facts I give you 
are facts. Whether the character of the devotions 
which look to these objects is idolatrous, and detracts 
from the pure worship of God or not, you are as well 
able to say as I. For myself, I have no difficulty in 
reaching a conclusion, nor will you. 

What I have said respects the corruptions of wor- 
ship in one aspect particularly ; that is, to the Being 



Errors of the Papacy. 377 

who is the object of worship. I now ask you to con- 
sider with me, 

III. The marmer of worship. " God is a Spirit, 
and they that worship him must worship him in 
spirit a7id in truths 

Our Lord, in his sermon on the mount, rebukes 
two abuses of worship as to the manner of it. The 
first was that of the hypocrites — ostentation; and 
the second was that of the heathen — vain repetition. 
Against both of these he earnestly warns his disci- 
ples. Matt, vi, 1-13. The worship of the Church in 
apostoUc times was evidently very simple. Chris- 
tians met together to " break bread," in memory of 
their Saviour's death ; they united in " psalms and 
hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in 
their hearts to the Lord." They offered their prayers 
to God in the name of Christ. The apostolic in- 
struction which they received looked to the matter, 
and not to forms. They knew that the " spirit and 
the understanding" were of infinitely more value 
than the most gorgeous ceremonial that could be 
enacted. 

So far has the Roman Church departed from this 
original simplicity, that her ceremonies require a vol- 
ume to describe them, and another volume to ex- 
plain them. A vast amount of time must be con- 
sumed in drilling priests and assistants to perform 
their various parts with precision. The greatest care 
is taken that the furniture, and appointments, and 
tapestry, and fixtures may be adjusted with exact- 
ness. The vestments of priests are important things, 
and there is no end of the changes at different stages 



378 Lecture XVI. 

of the various ceremonies. There are a master of 
ceremonies, assistant ministers, attendants, acolytes, 
incense-bearers, torch-bearers, and I know not what 
all. There are bowings, genuflexions, removing caps 
and replacing them, changing vestments, kneeling, 
rising, and making signs, innumerable. The whole 
elaborate parade is designed for effect, as much as the 
stage is. Indeed, Bishop England admits that some 
portion of the ceremonies is taken from "the an- 
cient mode of reciting tragedy." (Ceremonial of the 
Church, p. 53.) It is mere acting, prepared for the 
eye and the imagination. Pompous, sensuous acting. 
Think of an apostle requiring to be dressed just so, 
before breaking bread with a company of believers ! 
The thought of it brings a smile. Think of Paul 
carrying about with him an alb and cincture, an 
amice and maniple, etc., etc., and carefully robing 
himself when he had any ministerial function to per- 
form. O, fie ! 

Then there is the salt water that is blessed and 
made Jioly for sprinkling the people ; the solemn 
blessing oi palms on Palm Sunday, and of candles on 
Candlemas Day, and of asJies on Ash Wednesday, 
with imposing ceremonies. And these holy palms, 
and holy candles, and holy ashes, and this holy water, 
are supposed to possess, it is hard to tell what virtue. 
At least, they are of very great service in the estima- 
tion of the faithful. 

Now, the natural tendency of all these things is to 
beguile the imagination and occupy the mind, so as 
to withdraw it from the iitie spiritual worship of the 
heart. The mind that has so much else to be occu- 



Errors of the Papacy. 379 

pied with, can scarcely attend to its own communing 
with Christ and with God. 

And are not the private devotions prescribed by 
Rome the repetitions over again which our Saviour 
so positively condemned ? The Ave Maria, and the 
Pater Noster, and the Gloria Patri, over and over and 
over, counted off on the Rosary. This Rosary, by 
the way, is a peculiar instrument — a sort of devotional 
yardstick to measure prayers with. So many prayers 
are imposed by the confessor, perhaps by way of 
penance. The order must be filled. Here are prayers 
by the quajitity, prayers over and over, endless repe- 
titions, and there is danger of losing count. But 
a little attention to the beads will keep it all right. 
It is certainly a great convenience in rattling off 
prayers to order, and I am inclined to set down the 
Rosary as quite the most utilitarian and Yankee-like 
of all the Roman inventions I have met with. 

But is this species of praying acceptable to God .-* 
Does God estimate prayers by the quantity } Does 
he hear us for much speaking.'' Is he pleased with 
a devotional Rosary race "i 

The great requisites of worship are that a man 
shall have faith in God and in Christ, and then un- 
derstand himself. God knows no worship except 
that of the soul. He cannot hear those who "draw 
nigh unto him with the lips while their hearts are/^r 
from him." Forms are nothing to him. Simple, ap- 
propriate forms may aid the worshiper, but he cares 
not for them. And when they becom.e elaborate, 
they injure the worshiper. They distract and do not 
aid the attention. " In spirit and in truth." 



380 Lecture XVI. 

1. God desires to be worshiped in spirit ; that is, 
in humility and repentance, in faith and love. He 
demands an offering of the spirit^ not the voice so 
much. No brilliant array of symbolical acting can 
entertain him. But he is pleased when the soul is 
'' poured out to him^ (i Sam. 1-15 ; Psa. Ixii, 8.) The 
sincere and earnest worshiper will be conscious of 
many infirmities and imperfections in his petitions. 
He will groan under the load of dullness and worldli- 
ness that will oppress him. But the Spirit will help 
our infirmities, (Rom. viii, 26.) God will bestow the 
Spirit of adoption, which will lead us to cry, " Abba, 
Father." (Rom. viii, 15 ; Gal. iv, 6.) Such prayer as 
this is answered, and such praise is acceptable to 
God. 

2. Worship must be offered in truth. That is, first, 
it must be sincere. There must be no hypocrisy. 
" Be not deceived, God is not mocked." No sham 
can impose upon him. No parade can blind him. 
And, secondly, to be in truth, worship must conform 
in its spirit and manner to the requirements of relig- 
ion. It must not disregard the revealed will of God. 
The " word of truth " must be strictly observed. 

The highest, indeed the sole ambition of my life is 
to persuade men to be worshipers of God ; not in 
name only, that would do no good, but in spirit and 
in truth. Intelligence performs its highest act in 
contemplating God ; the will achieves its noblest 
conquest in submitting itself to him ; the affections 
kindle with their purest glow when they yield to his 
attraction, and the whole soul realizes its utmost 
exaltation when it pours itself out to God in adora- 



Errors of the Papacy. 381 

tion. It becomes joined in conscious peace to the 
Infinite. 

Even with the purest forms, worship is imperfect 
in our present Hfe. We yearn for a better world. 
We have the promise. Our Deliverer will come, and 
will not tarry. " It doth not yet appear what we 
shall be, but when he shall appear we shall be like 
him, for we shall see him as he is." 

" Weak is the effort of my heart, 
And cold my warmest thought ; 
But when I see thee as thou art, 
I'll praise thee as I ought ! " 

When shall the day come ? When shall we be im- 
mortal ? When shall our songs become celestial, and 
match angelic strains ? 

The subject of my next lecture will be, "The 
Papacy as Delineated in the Prophetic Scriptures." 



382 Lecture XVII. 



LECTURE XVII. 

PROPHETIC DELINEATIONS OF THE PAPACY. 

MY anonymous favors continue to pour in upon 
me ; indeed, they are becoming so numer- 
ous that I find myself under the necessity of with- 
holding them from the public. I have given enough 
for a specimen, and I now announce that those who 
may be anxious to get into print must hereafter re- 
sort to some other method of securing their object. 
Let them not, however, infer that I am tired of the 
correspondence. On the contrary, it affords me a 
good deal of amusement, although the design of 
several of the letters was, evidently, to produce an 
effect quite the reverse. If any of my nameless 
friends generously desire to afford me a moment's 
entertainment, I shall appreciate their favors ; and, 
indeed, I am rather pleased with these covert thrusts. 
The sign is easily interpreted : Having fired into a 
flock, if you see fluttering, you know your shot has 
taken effect. In the meantime, if any respectable 
man will state to me, over his own signature, or in 
person, such difficulties or objections as may occur 
to his mind, I shall be more than pleased to do 
Avhat may be in my power to assist him in reaching 
the truth. 

Having presented you, last Sunday evening, a 
view of the worship of the Roman Church, in con- 
trast with the pure, spiritual worship of the Chris- 



Errors of the Papacy. 383 

tian religion, I now ask you to consider certain 
prophetic delineations of the Papacy. I shall not, this 
evening, bring the symbolical prophecies into requi- 
sition. Some prophecies are, directly and literally, 
descriptive. This is true, in the main^ of those which 
I shall present at this time. They are all to be 
found in the writings of the apostles Paul and 
Peter. 

I will read you one of them now at the outset, 
which shall serve as the basis of what I have to say. 
The others will come in appropriately at various 
places. It is in 2 Thess. ii, 1-12. 

" Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lprd 
Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him., that ye 
be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, 
nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ 
is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means : for that 
day shall not come, except there come a falHng away first, and 
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ; who op- 
poseth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that 
is worshiped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God ; 
showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that when 
I was yet with you, I told you these things } And now ye 
know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work : only he who 
now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And 
then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall con- 
sume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the 
brightness of his coming : Even him, whose coming is after 
the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying won- 
ders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them 
that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth, 
that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send 
them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie ; that they 
all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleas- 
ure in unrighteousness." 



384 Lecture XVII. 

The primitive Churches were frequently agitated 
by the expectation of the second Advent. Imagi- 
native, excitable men, either misunderstanding or dis- 
regarding the doctrine of the apostles on that sub- 
ject, believed and taught that Christ would very 
soon appear the second time. This opinion had 
reached Thessalonica, and the mind of the Church 
was disturbed and unquiet in consequence of it. 
The effect of the excitement was, no doubt, un- 
happy, and likely to be pernicious. In the text 
which I have given the apostle undertakes to allay 
it by removing the cause. There was no ground of 
apprehension. '' The day of Christ " was not '^ at 
hand ;" of this he assures them. And that the as- 
surance may be the more convincing, he reminds 
them that while he was yet with them he announced 
to them a fact with which the immediate appearing 
of the Lord was wholly incompatible. '' Remember 
ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you 
these things?" (V. 5.) What things? That the 
day of Christ's second advent should not come ''ex- 
cept there come a falling away first, and that man 
of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." (V. 3.) 
The apostle had made it a point of special instruc- 
tion that a great apostasy awaited the Church. And 
as that event had not yet occurred, and as it must 
precede the appearing of Christ, their apprehensions 
were premature. 

This predicted apostasy is a matter of absorbing 
mterest to the Christian world. Eighteen centuries 
have passed away since the prediction went on rec- 
ord. Has it been fulfilled, or is it still in the womb 
of the future ? No intelligent Christian can be in- 



Errors of the Papacy. 385 

different on this subject. Nor can the effort to set- 
tle the question be unavailing. For the apostle has 
given the specific marks of the apostasy so minutely 
and graphically that, if it has really taken place, 
there can be no difficulty in identifying it. You 
have only to read with attention the place which I 
have cited to discover a particularity of description 
that must preclude mistake. " That man of sin, the 
son of perdition," has given the prophetic artist a 
sitting, and the canvas bears every feature, and 
lineament, and expression, with life-like perfection 
to the eye of the most casual observer. Now, let 
us look at the present and into the past. If the 
*' man of sin " has made his appearance, we shall be 
sure to meet with him and to recognize him. 

And, before we enter upon the examination, the 
presumption is in favor of the fact that the " falling 
away," or apostasy, has taken place — that the *' man 
of sin " has already been '' revealed." For at the 
time when the apostle wrote, he said, '' The mystery 
of iniquity doth already work." (V. 7.) To his in- 
spired vision the elements of the great apostasy were 
even then apparent. They were then beginning to 
work. Is it likely that they should have continued 
active, and yet latent, for a period of near two 
thousand years? 

I shall undertake, this evening, to produce before 
you the subject of the apostle's pencil — the origin- 
al of the portrait which glows upon his canvas. 
I will show you the Papacy^ and yourselves shall be 
witnesses of its identity with the portrait. We will 
examine, in detail, one fact after another of the 
apostolic delineation, keeping the Papacy in view. 



386 Lecture XVII. 

And if we shall find It an accurate and complete 
description of the Papacy, the conclusion will be in- 
evitable. We shall have found the apostasy. 

I. In the phrases, '^ man of sin " — " son of perdi- 
tion," V. 3, we have the 3.postasy J)erso7nJied. They 
give the character of it in the aggregate. The traits 
are afterwards given one by one. And when we 
shall have examined them in detail, we shall see 
how truthful these appellative phrases are. This per- 
sonification enables the apostle to give a most lively 
description, and the sketch is made with a master 
hand. Every stroke brings out a feature, perfectly 
defined, and fixes it before the mind in an attitude 
so striking that recognition is a necessity. 

II. We come now to examine the facts and traits 
of the man of sin, particularly, and to establish by 
this means his identity with the Roman Church. 

I. The first thing to be noted is the J>/ace which 
he occupies. He *^ sitteth in the temple of God." 

(V.4.) 

The point first to be determined is the meaning 
of the phrase, " the temple of God." It is remarked 
by a celebrated critic, that the temple at Jerusalem 
is never, by the apostles, called the temple of God, 
after the resurrection of our Lord. But they call 
the Church the house of God. It is the place of his 
abode, the temple in which spiritual sacrifice is 
offered to him ; the sacrifice of praise and thanks- 
giving. In 2 Cor. vi, i6, and Eph. ii, 2i, Paul gives 
us the means of ascertaining the sense in which he 
uses the word. In the Pauline usage '' the temple 
of the living God," '^ the temple of the Lord," is the 
Church. What a striking — what a fearful fact is 



Errors of the Papacy. 387 

this — '' the son of perdition " is to be revealed in 
the Church. 

Romanists tell us their Church has existed in an 
outward unbroken organization from the days of the 
apostles. They assure us that all true Churches, in 
the early ages, were in communion with Rome. '^ In 
the primitive times," they say, " there were schisms 
and heretical organizations, but the Church of 
Rome was always in the true communion, and 
that now she is the only Church that can trace her 
existence back to the apostles." Grant it. What 
then ? She proves herself to be the very seat of the 
'* man of sin." She voluntarily relieves me, to a 
large extent, of the onus of this argument. The 
truth is this : In the first ages the local Church at 
Rome was the integral part of the true Church ; that 
after a time, as being situated at the seat of the 
Empire, in the Imperial city, her bishops began to 
be deferred to by the provincial bishops ; that by 
all the means in their power they augmented their 
own consequence, and that finally, after the lapse of 
some centuries, they came to be considered as the 
head of the Church, in the Western nations. Now, 
if I fix upon a given period, as, for instance, the 
seventh or the ninth century, and say that at that 
time Rome was regarded as the headquarters of 
the Church in its outward organization, my Roman- 
ist auditor will agree with me. And if I say that, 
from that time on for some centuries, the bulk of 
the Christian world (the East excepted) was in com- 
munion with Rome, as the recognized head, he will 
still agree with me. And if I further say that the 

Church of Rome had historically the advantage of 

25 



388 Lecture XVII. 

the Greek Church in the East, he will still agree 
with me. Now, I submit to a candid world that, 
taking the history of the Church in the early and 
medieval ages, it is precisely in the Church of Rome 
that, according to this prophetic account, we are 
to look for the appearing of the '* son of perdi- 
tion." For, as a local Church, she acquired a sort 
of precedence far back in history ; perhaps as early 
as the third century ; and, subsequently, she gave 
name and character to the greater part of the Church 
at large. Even her untrue and unreasonable his- 
torical claims, if they were true, would add just so 
much strength to my argument. Awarding her 
what authentic history does, the most prominent 
place in ecclesiastical history in the periods indi- 
cated to her, we must look for the seat of the " falling 
away " (v. 3) in which the man of sin was to be re- 
vealed. We can look for it in no schism ; in no in- 
considerable heretical organization. He '' sitteth 
in the temple of God." That Rome was a true 
Church, and occupied the chief position among the 
Churches of which the Church at large was com- 
posed, at the time when the apostasy was developed, 
no man can doubt. History turns the prophetic 
index towards Rome. There we are to look for its 
calamitous fulfillment. 

2. The '' son of perdition " is " revealed " iii the 
CJiurch. In what CHARACTER does he appear there ? 
" He, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shozving 
himself that he is God.'' Can we find any thing in 
the Roman Church answering this description ? 
We shall see. 

In the first place I will show you that the priest- 



Errors of the Papacy. 389 

hood of that Church exactly answers the description. 
I quote from a pamphlet, acknowledged to be genu- 
ine by Archbishop Kenrick, of this city, some 
extracts from Dens' Theology : 

*' The Church " teaches that a fact communicated 
to the priest in the confessional is to be held as an 
inviolable secret. In reference to this Dens says, in 
vol. 6, p. 219 : "- What answer, then, ought a confess- 
or give when questioned concerning a truth which 
he knows from sacramental confession only? An- 
siver .'He ought to answer that he does not know it, 
and, if it be necessary, to confirm the same with an 
oath. Objection : It is in no case lawful to tell a lie, 
but that confessor would be guilty of a lie, because 
he knows the truth ; therefore, etc. Ansiver : I deny 
the minor ; because such a confessor is questioned as 
a man, and answers as a man ; but now he does not 
know that truth as a man, though he knows it as 
God!' As God ! Now, look at the priest in the con- 
fessional, sitting there, according to this standard 
text-book of theirs, AS GOD, hearing confessions, and 
granting absolution ; and then let us ask of Paul a 
question or two. Where was the '' man of sin" to ap- 
pear? He '■^ sitteth in the temple of God!' In what 
character? ^'As GOD." Peter Dens ! did you intend to 
tell us that the Roman priesthood was " that man of 
sin — the son of perdition ? " As this describes the 
priesthood at large, so it does also the Pope. I have 
given, in a former lecture, the highest Roman stand- 
ards in proof that the Pope is designated by divine ti- 
tles. Hughes in the controversy with Breckinridge, 
page 72, undertakes to '' prove from Scripture that it 
is right to call the Pope God." In the canon law, in 



390 Lecture XVII. 

tbs gloss, he is called '' The Lord God." Pope 
Nicholas, in a letter to the Emperor, professing to 
quote, with approbation, from Constantine, claims 
that the Pope " is a God, and, therefore, men cannot 
judge him!' *' Showing himself that he is God." 
Here, then, we have it distinctly made out, by un- 
questionable Roman authority, that this one of the 
leading characteristics of the apostate is found in 
the Roman priesthood, including the Pope. 

3. But h.Q^* opposeth and exalt eth himself above all 
that is called God, or that is worshiped T (V. 4.) 

Stubborn history fixes this mark upon the Pope 
of Rome. We will begin with the celebrated letter 
addressed to Pope Paul the Third, in the sixteenth 
century, pointing out the abuses which called for re- 
form in the Church. *' Your Holiness," say they, 
*' well understands the original of these mischiefs : 
that some Popes, your predecessors, having itching 
ears, as says the Apostle Paul, heaped up teachers 
after their own lusts, not to learn from them what 
they ought to do, but that they should take pains 
and employ their wit to find out ways how it might 
be lawful for them to do what they pleased!' Now, 
take a specimen of what these teachers taught and 
what the Popes were not slow to act upon. Ac- 
cording to one of them, the Pope ^'' caii change the 
very nature of a thing ; for example, he can make 
that lawful zvhich is unlawful!' (Durand i, 50-) 
Another says, '' JHe possesses plenitude of power, and 
is above lazv!' (Gilbert 2, 103.) Does not this 
place him above the authority of God ? Is not this 
the opposing and exalting himself which the apostle 
indicates ? And, according to the eight prelates 



Errors of the Papacy. 391 

which I have cited, the Popes did avail themselves 
of the blasphemous license, and they specify enor- 
mous abuses, all from the claim of the aforesaid teach- 
ers, that the Pope was above law, which is the same 
as being above the authority of God. 

Not only have the priests ventured upon a divine 
prerogative in forgiving sins, but the Popes have 
actually exceeded that prerogative, thus placing 
themselves " above all that is called God." That 
none can forgive sins but God only, is a fact in- 
dorsed by our Lord himself. And in the exercise 
of this supreme authority, which is exclusively his, 
God confines his pardons to ''sins that are past." 
(Rom. iii, 25.) He never forgives beforehand. It is 
only upon actual repentance and faith that he re- 
mits sin. Now, it is an unquestionable fact of 
history, whatever may be the theory of indulgences, 
that the Popes have assumed, by plenary indulgences, 
to remit sins in anticipation. *' I restore you," says 
the granter of this indulgence, in the name of the 
Pope, *' to the unity of the faithful, and to that 
innocence and purity which you possessed at bap- 
tism." You know" what this means. In the Ro- 
manist theory, baptism takes away all sin, and 
leaves the soul absolutely pure before God, To 
this state the indulgence professed to restore them. 
" So that when you die the gates of punishment 
shall be shut, and the gates of paradise and delight 
opened ; and if you shall 7iot die at present this grace 
shall remain in full force wJien you shall be at the 
point of deaths To assure a sinner that his soul 
shall stand secure at death, in virtue of a pardon 
years before, in anticipation of sins to be committed 



392 Lecture XVII. 

in the interval, is stretching authority beyond the 
limit which God has set for himself. And yet this 
was actually done by Leo X, one of the most pol- 
ished Popes that ever hung the keys of heaven to 
his girdle. A Medici, and the most illustrious of 
that illustrious name, he maintained a superb 
pontificate ; but, like all grandeur, it was costly ; 
and his drained exchequer was replenished by the 
sale of such grace as might be conveyed in the in- 
strument from which I have read. 

I do not charge that it is the avowed theory of 
the Roman Church that the Pope is above God. It 
is all-sufficient to the argument that we find the 
Pope acting on the principle that he is above law, 
or in any case transcending the limits within which 
God has restrained a prerogative of his own. The 
pardon of sin is certainly one of the gravest acts of 
the Divine throne, and history exhibits the Pope 
dispensing at his pleasure with those conditions by 
which he guards the bestowal of this grace from 
ruinous abuses. *' He opposeth and exalteth himself 
above all that is called God, or that is worshiped." 
4. Another characteristic of the apostate is thus 
given : '^ Whose coming is after the working of 
Satan, ivitJi all poiver, and signs ^ and lying wonders^ 
(V. 9.) 

The power of the Papacy is the leading fact of 
European history from the time of Hildebrand to 
the fifteenth century. Kings and emperors were 
but little more than feudatories of the Pope. Princes 
adjusted their administration to his interests, or his 
caprices, lest he should denounce their subjects from 
allegiance, and they should find themselves at once 



Errors of the Papacy. 393 

uncrowned. Such was the moral power of '^ his 
holiness " over the minds of men. The " Vicar of 
God " was above all kings, and claimed the right to 
interfere with governments at will. But during the 
fifteenth century the Papacy waned, and now the 
Pope has scarcely any political influence. Poor Pio 
Nono ! it is all he can do to hold his three-story 
crown on his own head, amid the agitations that 
surround him. 

Yet it does not follow that the Papacy has lost 
all power, because the Pope has lost his political 
supremacy. By the doctrine of infallibility, and 
purgatory, and kindred assumptions, and especially 
through the confessional, the Roman hierarchy 
wields a power over human souls, to-day, such as has 
no parallel on earth. The dawning sensibilities of 
childhood are preoccupied by the idea that the 
Church has full authority over the soul, and that 
the priest is God's vicar — that he can forgive sin, 
and that the curses of the Church carry destruction 
to all those against whom he may denounce them. 
While yet in the imaginative and impressible period 
of childhood or early youth, the catechumen is ad- 
mitted to confirmation, approaches for the first time 
the awful tribunal of penance, the confessional, and 
receives into his mouth the Lord Jesus, from the 
hands of .the priest. To the priest he tells all his 
sins. From the priest he receives his pardon. If 
\.\\Q priest should excommunicate him, he would be 
lost forever. The priest imposes penances that he 
must perform, or suffer for it in purgatory. Under 
the hand of the priest he expects to go out of the 
world through the solemn gateway of death, fitted 



394 ' Lecture XVII. 

by the last touches of sacramental and priestly aid 
to go into the presence of God. In all this the 
priest is the agent of '^ Holy Mother Church," and 
the vicar of God. 

'' And signs." Rome has a great historical supply 
of these. That one by which it is pretended that 
Constantine was converted may serve as a specimen. 
The story is, that a luminous cross in the sky was 
seen, bearing this inscription : '' Conquer by this 
sign." It was on the eve of a battle which must be 
decisive of his fortunes. He embraced the crucifix, 
and triumphed. The monkish legends are full of 
such, and much more ridiculous signs. 

*' And lying wonders." You will do me the justice 
to remember that during this whole series of lectures 
I have avoided harsh epithets. How much soever 
the subjects and facts of which I have treated might 
justify or tempt me to it, I have abstained from that 
species of declamation. My object has been to give 
solid facts, and unanswerable arguments, in courteous 
language. Before an intelligent audience, I depend 
much more on the strength of truth than on the 
strength of epithets. Nor will I allow myself to be 
tempted from this course. Those who delight in 
denunciation and ugly, offensive speech, are welcome 
to the entire monopoly of that effective method of 
discussion. The writings of the Apostle Paul are 
characterized by great elevation of thought and 
dignity of expression. He is the last man of whom 
you would look for wanton abuse. But in his in- 
spired description of the apostasy a class of facts 
came before his vision that would bear no gentler 
designation than that of '' lying wpnders." And 



Errors of the Papacy. 395 

here again truth — stern, unmerciful truth — fastens 
the description upon the Papacy. That which 
pained the vision of the apostle, has blackened the 
history of the Papacy. A chapter, entitled ** Lying 
Wonders," faithfully written, would be one of the 
longest in Papal history. I have heretofore given 
you some account of the pretended miracles of the 
priests, wherever they find a population sufficiently 
ignorant or superstitious to be imposed upon. Is it 
not a little singular that where miracles are most 
needed they are least resorted to? Certainly there 
never was a place where miracles were more needed 
to support the credit of mother Church, and win 
converts, than here in St. Louis. Some stupendous 
*' wonder " ought to overwhelm the public just 
now. Why have we no winking Madonnas, no 
wonder-working coats, no Bambinos, no monks 
ferrying the Mississippi on their cloaks ? Why does 
not St. Francis Xavier, the prince of modern miracle- 
workers, become so propitious to those who visit 
the '' places dedicated to his memory" in this coun- 
try, as to render them some efficient service of this 
kind ? What can the matter be ? Is it that intelli- 
gent Protestant eyes are too numerous? Certainly 
the faithful in these United States ought to have at 
least a little vial of blood that would liquefy, or 
some small token, to assure them that the saints 
are not wholly indifferent to them ! The Emerald 
Isle, one would think, might spare something of this 
sort from her rich store, at home, for the benefit of 
her many children in. this country. But let us be 
charitable. The saints are prudent; and who can 
blame them ? 



39^ Lecture XVII. 

5. The coming of the man of sin was to be further 
attended with " all deceivableness of unrighteous- 
ness." (V. 10.) This agrees with another prediction 
of the great apostasy, by the same apostle, in i Tim. 
iv, 1-3 : '' T/ie Spirit speaketJi expressly'' With such 
emphasis does he introduce this prediction. And 
what is it which the Spirit^ speaking so expressly^ 
teaches? ''That in the latter times some shall de- 
part from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits 
and doctrines of devils." V. i.) The apostasy, un- 
der the influence of diabolical seduction, is the sub- 
ject of the prediction. The delineation of this dis- 
astrous event is less fully, but not less strikingly, 
given here than in the text which I read at first. 
The first characteristic of it given here is that of 
" speaking lies in hypocrisy," corresponding with the 
" deceivableness of unrighteousness " in the former 
text. What a brand is this, burnt by an apostle's 
hand, upon the forehead of the coming apostate ! 
But, alas, history, that will speak, reveals that fore- 
head with the faithful brand upon it. Every student of 
ecclesiastical history has seen it, and read the fatal in- 
scription. And I here fearlessly assert that this de- 
scription belongs to the Romish Churchy and will prove 
it by the following facts. And the defenders of that 
Church will find it infinitely more convenient to ring 
the changes on the word calumny than to challenge 
my facts. Mark that. 

First, by the fundamental law of the Roman 
Church faith is not to be kept with heretics ! Proof: 
first, it is taught explicitly in the canon law ; and, 
secondly, it has been decreed by a General Council. 
From the canon law take the following : 



Errors of the Papacy. 397 

" Those who were bound by any obligations to 
heretics are freed from all obligation." '^ Let those 
who were bound to those who have manifestly fallen 
into heresy, /?j/ any compact^ no matter with what 
degree of strength it may have been confirmed, know 
that they are absolved from all obligations of FIDEL- 
II Y, authority and obedience of any kind^ (Dec. Gr., 
book V, tit. viil, c. xvi.) Of the decrees of Councils, 
take third Lateran, canon twenty-seventh. 

" Let those who are bound to them by any com- 
pact or cove7iant know that they are released from 
all obligations of fidelity, homage, and every kind of 
obedience, whilst they remain in so great iniquity." 

As to the working of the principle, every student 
of the past has ample information. But there is 
one case which I will give you, in particular. It 
belongs to a not very remote past, and it has the 
additional advantage of involving a historical fact 
and the action of an infallible Council at the same 
time. 

The whole Christian world has heard of the name 
of John Huss. A man of purer personal character 
scarcely ever lived. The single crime of his life was, 
that, " after the manner Romanists call heresy, he 
worshiped the God of his fathers," and preached the 
Gospel of Christ. His doctrines coincide very 
closely with those afterward preached by Luther. 
After an eventful and very successful career, in 
which many thousands were brought to the knowl- 
edge of the truth, he was cited to Constance, to ap- 
pear before the Council in session in that city. This 
Council was a very large one, and was convened for 
the purpose of putting an end to the great schism 



39^ Lecture XVII. 

in the Papacy, which had continued many years. It 
was attended by more than thirteen hundred eccle- 
siastics of various grades, and was presided over, 
first and last, by two successive Popes. Huss knew 
well the danger to which he must expose himself 
by going to the Council. He accordingly applied 
to the Emperor Sigismund for a safe conduct, that 
he might be protected from personal violence by 
Imperial authority. The Imperial pledge was given 
in this language : " We have received the honorable 
Mr. John Huss under our protection and defence." 
All authorities were directed to *' allow him without 
any impediment to go, to stop, to remain, and to re- 
tur7t freely ; and whenever it shall be necessary, let 
it be your pleasure, as it is your duty, to make pro- 
vision for his secure and safe-conduct, for the honor 
and reverence of our majesty." The avowed object 
for which this safe-conduct was sought and obtained 
was that he might appear before the Council, pass 
his trial for heresy, and return to the midst of his 
friends in safety. Relying on the faith of a Chris- 
tian sovereign, he went. He met his trial like a 
Christian man, as he was, was convicted of heresy, 
condemned, and '' Holy Mother," long accustomed 
to the taste of heretical blood, and grown fond of 
it, thirsted for his. But the Emperor was solemnly 
and officially bound for his safe return. What 
now ? The Council decides that, Huss beijtg a here- 
tic, Sigismund's pledge to him is not binding. But 
he has a conscience, and hesitates. The Council 
appoints a deputation to wait on him and remove 
his scruples. Dachery, an eye-witness and historian 
of the Council, says : " The deputation, in a long 



Errors of the Papacy. 399 

speech, persuaded the Emperor that, by decretal au- 
thority, he should NOT KEEP FAITH WITH A MAN 
ACCUSED OF HERESY." At length he yielded, and 
gave Huss over to the local magistracy, by which 
he was consigned to the executioners. A pyramidal 
cap was placed on his head, on which hideous fig- 
ures of devils were painted, holy bishops ^' devoted 
his soul to the devils," and, fastened to a stake with 
his face westward, he was burned alive. In the 
midst of the fire he sang praises, with a loud and 
cheerful voice. And when the fire fastened upon 
him, he cried, '' Jesus Christ, thou Son of the Liv- 
ing God, have mercy upon me," and went to meet 
the mercy he invoked. After he was dead, his half- 
burned body was torn in pieces and thrown back 
into the fire until it was entirely consumed, and 
then the ashes were collected and cast into the 
Rhine. Where are they now ? Jesus, thou know- 
est, and wilt gather them in the resurrection of the 
just, and John Huss shall live again. 

The Council afterward passed the following de- 
cree : '' This holy Synod declares that no prejudice 
to the Catholic faith can or ought to be produced, 
and no impediment to ecclesiastical jurisdiction in- 
terposed, by any safe conduct given by the Empe- 
ror, kings, and other secular powers, to heretics, or 
those charged with heresy, supposing that they shall 
thus recall them from their errors, whatever be the 
obligation with zvhich they have bound themselves. 
But, notwithstanding the said safe-conduct, it shall 
be lawful for a competent ecclesiastical judge to in- 
quire into the errors of such persons, and to proceed 
against such errors in other ways, according to their 



400 Lecture XVII. 

deserts, and to punish them as much as justice de- 
mands, if they shall obstinately refuse to recant 
their errors, although they came to the place of trial 
relying on the safe-conduct, and otherwise would ?iot 
have come.'' 

But Huss had many friends, and wicked tongues 
said hard things about the Council that had piously 
burned an eminent servant of God, and about the 
Emperor, who had, with equal piety, broken a solemn 
engagement to protect him. Men slandered the 
'* Holy Council," just as I have been slandering 
'' Holy Mother," of late, by uttering THE HORRIBLE 
TRUTH, in rehearsing the black and bloody FACTS of 
her history. The Council heard of this, and roused 
itself to defense. A second decree was accordingly 
passed, which may remind you of later efforts to 
blunt the edge of statements which cannot be dis- 
proved. Here it is: 

"Whereas, some ill-informed or ill-disposed persons, or some 
accustomed, perhaps, to think themselves wiser than they ought, 
not only assailed his Royal Majesty with slanderous tongues, 
but EVEN, as it is said, this holy (! ! !) Council, saying or in- 
sinuating, publicly or privately, that the safe-conduct given by 
the most unconquerable prince, Lord Sigismund, King of the 
Romans and of Hungary, to John Huss, that heresiarch of 
damnable memory, was violated when it ought not to have 
been, contrary to justice and honor; when still the said John 
Huss, obstinately assailing the orthodox faith, had rendered 
himself undeserving of any safe conduct and privilege, nor 
ought any faith or promise to be observed to him, to the injury 
of the Catholic faith, by any law, natural, divine, or human. 
Therefore, the said holy Synod, by the terms of this decree, 
declares that the aforesaid most unconquerable prince didwhat 
luas suitable according to the claims of justice, and what was 
bccojnijig his Royal Majesty, concerning the aforesaid John 



Errors of the Papacy. 401 

Huss, notwithstanding the aforesaid safe conduct — ordaining 
and enjoining on all faithful, in general and in particular, that 
no one, hereafter, shall repi'-oach this seco7id Council or his Royuu 
Majesty with their conduct toward the aforesaid John Huss, or 
in any way speak to their discredit. But whoever shall do 
otherwise, let him be punished without 7nercy, as a supporter 
of heresy and guilty of treason." 

So it was a very slanderous thing to blame the 
unconquerable Prince for breaking his solemn pledge, 
though he had done it ; and a very wicked slander 
to say a word against the holy Synod for urging him 
to it. And the immaculate fathers of Constance 
determined that any man who should dare to speak 
his mind against such ungodly deeds should be 
punished WITHOUT MERCY. And I am well aware 
that it is no less slanderous for me to bring these 
facts to your attention. Nevertheless, they are facts 
in which the world has a vital interest, and it de- 
volves on me to announce them to you. I shall 
endeavor to do my duty. 

You will observe these facts as contained in the 
proofs I have submitted. The principle that no 
faith is to be kept with heretics is found in the canon 
lazu — in the decrees of the third Lateran, which is a 
general Council — and avowedly acted upon by the 
Council of Constance in the case of John Huss. The 
next priest you meet will tell you, if you ask him, 
that the decisions of a general Council, in questions 
of faith and morals, are INFALLIBLE, and that all 
such decisions are indorsed by himself and the .wJtole 
Church. And if he denies the FACT that any general 
Council has decreed that faith with heretics is not 
to be kept, send him to me. And, certainly, if there 



402 Lecture XVII. 

ever was a question of essential morals, this is one. 
Huss was deceived, in relying on the pledge of a 
Romanist Emperor, and most unrighteously drawn 
into the trap set for him by the Council. If this is 
not the '' deceivableness of unrighteousness," I know 
of nothing that could deserve such a designation. 

The text quoted from Timothy, '* speaking lies 
in hypocrisy," has had a most appalling fulfillment 
in the case of the forged decretals. History has not 
its parallel. In a contest with the Primate of France, 
in reference to the jurisdiction of the Roman See in 
a certain case, Nicholas I, then Pope for the first 
time, quotes documents, purporting to be decretals 
of the earliest Bishops of Rome. These decretals 
were never appealed to by any of his predecessors, 
though occasions have often arisen in which they 
would have served the Papal cause incalculably. 
The first of them is a letter of Clement to the apostle 
James, at Jerusalem, in which he informs him of the 
death of Peter, who had appointed him his successor. 
He then goes on in fine style, claiming all the pre- 
rogatives contended for by the most arrogant Popes, 
and closes with a genuine Papal curse against all 
who should refuse their submission to him. This is 
followed by others from succeeding Bishops, all of 
the same stamp, all carefully asserting the supremacy 
of the Roman See. And from the time of Nicholas 
I, in the ninth centary, until the Reformation, these 
documents were appealed to without question, and 
perhaps did more than anything else to elevate the 
Pontiffs to the incalculable power which they held 
in the medieval period. But, you may ask, how they 
are known to be forgeries. I answer, by every test 



Errors of the Papacy. 403 

which can apply in such a case. But, to be short, 
suppose you should see a letter, purporting to have 
been written by Thomas Jefferson, in 1780, which 
should speak of a railroad trip from St. Louis to 
Cincinnati ? Or a letter from Archbishop Kenrick 
to Pope Gregory XVI, dated seven years after the 
Pope's death ? Or an essay, claiming to have been 
written in the reign of Henry VIII, in the style of 
Lord Macaulay ? Would you have any difficulty in 
pronouncing them forgeries? By precisely such 
tests are the forged decretals detected. Gross an- 
achronisms, havoc of facts, and corrupt Latinity, all 
proclaimed their disgraceful origin. Romanists 
themselves no longer defend them. They have found 
their merited doom. But, you ask again, how it was 
possible for such a fraud to be practiced upon the 
world ? You must remember that they made their 
appearance in the ninth century, and the world was 
never in a better condition to be imposed upon than 
then. And at the revival of letters, two facts con- 
spired to shield them. First, the precedent of quot- 
ing them had been established, and there is no place 
in the world where the word precedent means so 
much as at Rome. Secondly, the authority and 
power of the Popes render men timid in questioning 
anything in which the Papacy was interested. 

As late as the year 161 8, these forged decretals 
were published by Severinus Binius, D. D., in his 
Councils and Decretal Epistles, under the sanction 
of a special bull of Pope Paul V, and the license of 
the Romish censors of the press. 

Who committed the forgery? I do not know. 

But one thing is certain ; it was some one devoted 
26 



404 Lecture XVII. 

to the interests of the Papacy, " and it seems highly- 
probable that some Pope should have had a hand in 
it." Their whole object seems to have been to exalt 
the Papal authority, and, as Popes were more directly 
interested in that result than any others, there can 
be but little doubt that some one of the '' Most 
Holy Fathers " was at the bottom of it. In any 
event, the *' Holy Roman Church " is responsible 
for it, as it constitutes a remarkably distinct charac- 
teristic feature of the Roman Church in history, cor- 
responding exactly with a prominent mark of the 
apostate in prophecy. If I had time, I could say 
much o{ pious frauds, and show you how oaths melt 
away before Roman casuistry when they militate 
against the Church. But I have said enough. 

6. '' Consciences seared with a hot iron " mark 
the apostasy, in connection with the '' lies in hypoc- 
risy." (i Tim. iv, 2.) And, certainly, consciences 
seared to utter callousness must be required for 
such work as we have been examining. We can 
judge no man's conscience with absolute certainty. 
But of pretended Christian teachers we are to 
judge, upon our Saviour's authority, *' by their 
fruits." And surely there is very little conscience to 
be seen in all this '' deceivableness of unrighteous- 
ness," these " lies in hypocrisy." That many mem- 
bers of the Roman Church are sensitively conscien- 
tious, I have no doubt. But those who have been 
engaged in the wire-pulling, the deception, the sham 
miracles, and pious frauds, must have been ac- 
tuated by a very different motive. Conscience 
must be abused and destroyed before a man can en- 
gage in such work. 



Errors of the Papacy. 405 

7. Another mark of the apostasy is, '■'forbidding 
to marry r (V. 3.) 

Celibacy of the clergy is well known to be a rule in- 
variably enforced by the Roman Church. And not 
only the clergy, but other classes of so-called relig- 
ionists, are restrained from marriage. This is insisted 
on and enforced, upon the ground that the highest 
development of the spiritual life is attainable only 
in a state of celibacy. The Romish theory on this 
subject is peculiar, and strangely self-contradictory. 
All the sacraments, when worthily received, operate 
grace in the recipient. Matrimony is a sacrament, 
and yet a hinderance to the spiritual life. 

The sentiment in favor of celibacy on the part of 
ministers of the Gospel obtained footing in the 
Church at an early day, and the practice became 
extensive, if not, indeed, general. But the most 
pernicious results followed. Purity, the end sought, 
was destroyed. Just as may always be expected 
when God's methods are set aside for something 
better, the result was the reverse of that aimed at. 
The unmarried clergy, instead of mastering their 
lusts and becoming absorbed in devotion, sought 
and found illicit indulgence. Domesticism and con- 
cubinage were extensively introduced. Adultery 
and fornication, and even incest, became vices of the 
clergy. Very few who lived in celibacy lived chaste- 
ly. There was a reaction. Matrimony began 
again to prevail, and when Gregory the Seventh as- 
cended the Papal throne most of the priests were 
married men. Gregory was a man of immeasurable 
ambition, and equal force of character. To raise 
the Papacy to the highest possible pitch of power 



4o6 Lecture XVII. 

was the ruling object of his hfe. In order to do this 
he saw that priests must be detached from all ties 
of family, and home, and countiy, and become sim- 
ply and solely ecclesiastics. This could not be so 
long as they were permitted to marry. In their 
children there was a strong tie binding them to their 
country — an incentive to patriotism. A man who 
leaves a posterity to inherit his name and his fortune 
can never be indifferent to the sentiments of the 
patriot. Hildebrand determined that all priests 
should give up every other bond, so that they might 
be engrossed by Rome. And it is not a little signifi- 
cant that the very Pope who enforced universal 
celibacy of the clergy, also required of all Bishops to 
take a feudal oath to the Roman See. They were 
two parts of a master plan for the subjugation of 
the world to the Pontiff, by means of a clergy wholly 
devoted to him. The oath Avhich all the Bishops 
take, even to this day, I have given in a previous 
lecture. It is an oath of fealty to the Pope. 

The laity seconded the efforts of Gregory in this 
matter of enforcing celibacy on the clergy ; but the 
clergy stoutly resisted. They declared that it would 
be opening the door to nameless pollutions. Such 
a will as Gregory's, however, was not to be baffled. 
He found means, in one way or another, to enforce 
his decree. And since that day all priests must be 
bachelors. There are no exceptions. But they tell 
us no man is compelled to embrace this mode of 
life. Only those who discover in themselves the 
" gift of continence," consecrate their lives to the 
priesthood. As if a mere youth, whose imagination 
is at fever heat, and wholly occupied with the notion 



Errors of the Papacy. .^07 

of superhuman sanctity as the result of celibacy, were 
in a condition to judge of the strength of his own 
passions, as after years and other circumstances would 
develop them. 

If the past has any warning on any subject, it is on 
this. If it teaches any lesson, it teaches that celi- 
bacy is the parent of incontinence. I have given 
you, heretofore, an insight into the state of morals 
in Europe prior to the reformation. It is absolute- 
ly revolting. The Swiss actually forced their priests 
to take concubines. The object of this was to pro- 
tect their wives and daughters, whose virtue would 
otherwise be in danger. Contemporaneous authors, 
and the action of Councils and Synods, bear ample 
and disgusting testimony to the prevalence of priest- 
ly pollution. Some of the old writers affirm that 
priests have even been known to suspend the salva- 
tion of a fair penitent in the confessional, on the 
condition of yielding to their infamous desires. 
The particular attention given by Dens, and other 
Papal writers on Moral Theology, to the subject of 
prostitution by me aits of the confessional, is a suffi- 
cient index to the facts in the case. 

But, in spite of all, the Popes have held on to 
this regulation. The proof that it was the source of 
untold impurities has been before them. But to no 
purpose. Not one iota will they yield in this mat- 
ter. Priests must be single men, even if it makes 
the grossest fornicators of them. Why? Because 
it is scriptural ? O, no ! The Jewish priests and 
prophets were married men, and so were the Chris- 
tian apostles and ministers. But the unmarried 
priest is neither husband, father, nor, in any sub- 



4o8 Lecture XVII. 

stantlal meaning of that word, citizen. He is sim- 
ply a Roman ecclesiastic — an officer of the Pope. 
The Papacy monopolizes the whole man. Another 
result follows — not bargained for, but inevitable. 
It exhibits in the Roman Church another mark, most 
striking and palpable, of the great apostasy. It 
forms to-day an essential feature of the Roman sys- 
tem. It is inwrought into it. Every priest, and 
every nun, and every lay brother that walks your 
streets, proclaims the fulfillment of the apostolic 
prophecy. The man of sin has been revealed, '' for- 
bidding to marry." 

8. ^^ And commaitdirig to abstain from meats' 
Who does this describe? Need I ask a St. Louis 
audience that question ? The notion that abstain- 
ing from one species of food, while at the same time 
the appetite is gratified by every sort of delicacy, is 
fastings is, I believe, peculiar to Romanism. Have 
you ever seen a fast-day dinner ? A fast-day din- 
ner ! Fish, of various kinds, served up to suit the 
palate, with bread, the staff of life, in abundance, 
and all the accompaniments and condiments — a 
sumptuous repast. Piously fasting in this way, the 
good Papist is shocked if you speak of meat on his 
fast-day. Doubly comforted by a full stomach and 
the conviction that he has performed an act of self- 
denial, he picks his teeth and goes on his way, all 
unconscious of being a living witness of the fulfill- 
ment of prophecy. The '"'■ Ecclesia Docens," the 
teaching Churchy has commanded him to abstain from 
meats. The apostle said it would be so when they 
should '^ depart from the faith, giving heed to se- 
ducing spirits and doctrines of devils." 



Errors of the Papacy. 409 

9. "There shall be false teachers among you, who, 
privily y shall bring in damnable heresies." (2 Peter 
ii, I.) Peter, in this place, contributes a most graphic 
description. of the apostolic prophecies of the coming 
apostasy. According to him, it should be introduced 
by the teachers, and be brought in privily. The 
mind compulsively reverts to the forged decretals. 
The student of Papal theology will also be inevita- 
bly reminded of the sly manner in which the tradi- 
tions seem to creep in, and afterwards grow in cred- 
it until at last they become avowed doctrines and 
" damnable heresies " of the Church. Invocation 
of saints, and the homage paid to relics and images, 
may be specified particularly in this category. And 
so, also, celibacy of the clergy. Indeed, if I should 
attempt an enumeration, I should scarcely know 
where to stop. 

10. What with penances and meritorious works, 
and the efficacy of sacraments, and the help of 
saints and such like, the Church of Rome has placed 
salvation, practically, on an anti-Christian basis. In 
theory, I grant, they refer salvation to Christ. But, 
with a mediating priest and innumerable interceding 
saints, and the agency of relics in procuring divine 
aid, the SOLE merit and efficacy of the atonemejit and 
intercession of Christ is shut out from the mind. 
It is a practical, though not an avowed, " denial of 
the Lord that bought them^ (Verse i.) By pre- 
senting their denial of Christ in this aspect, the apos- 
tle fastens his meaning particularly upon such things 
as displace the merit of Christ. Those things that I 
have specified do this in FACT, if not in theory, so 
that we have here another item in the catalogue of 



410 Lfxture XVII. 

particulars by which the apostles describe the apos- 
tasy. 

11. ^^ Many shall follow their pernicious ways," 
or, as some copies have it, " their lascivious ways." 
(Verse 2.) 

There is nothing of which the priests delight more 
to boast than their numbers^ as if this were convinc- 
ing proof that they are indeed the true Church. 
Buddhism can out-boast them in this. Mohammed- 
anism at one time, and for a long time, made con- 
verts incomparably faster. It is certainly true that 
there are many millions of Papists, and that they 
are widely scattered ; and it is just as the apostle 
said, ''''many shall follow their pernicious ways." 

I believe it is, indeed, true that Papal missionaries, 
among the heathen, make converts with more facil- 
ity than Protestants. Nor is this at all strange. It 
is no great matter for a heathen to exchange one 
set of images for another set with different names. 
Indeed, he can get new toys in the place of his old 
ones, and much handsomer — executed in a better 
style of art. And, while they ostentatiously parade 
their numbers, they call attention to the inspired 
inscription, written with fearful distinctness, and 
nailed upon every temple of the apostasy : '' Many 
shall follow their pernicious ways." 

12. ^^ By reason of whom the way of truth shall be 
evil spoken ofT The only comment I shall offer 
upon this, is an extract from the celebrated letter 
of the eight prelates to Pope Paul III, on the 
necessity of reformation. After asserting that some 
preceding Popes had '' heaped up teachers after their 
own lusts, * * to find out ways how it might be 



Errors of the Papacy. 411 

lawful for them to do what they pleased," the letter 
proceeds : " Hence it has come to pass that there 
have been doctors ever ready to maintain that, all 
benefices being the Pope's, and the Lord having a 
right to sell zvhat is his own, it must necessarily follow 
that the Pope is not capable of the guilt of simony ; 
insomuch that the Pope's will and pleasure, what- 
ever it be, must needs be the rule of all that he does ; 
which, doubtless, would end in believing everything 
lawful that he had a mijid to do. From this source, 
as from the Trojan horse, so many abuses, and such 
mortal diseases, have broken forth into the Church 
of God, which have reduced her, as we see, almost 
to a state of desperation, the fame of these things 
having come even to the ears of Infidels (let your 
Holiness believe us speaking what we know,) who 
deride Christianity more for this than for anything 
else ; so that, through ourselves, we must needs say, 
THROUGH OURSELVES, the name of Christ is blas- 
phemed among the nations." Did those distin- 
guished prelates, writing to the '' head " of the Papal 
Church, intend to proclaim to the world that Peter's 
prophecy was made expressly in reference to the 
'* Ecclesia Docens ? " Surely they are the false 
teachers, by reason of whom the way of truth has 
been evil spoken of. 

13. But hear Peter yet again: ^^ And through 
covetousness shall they, with feigned words, make 
merchandise of you!' 

If ever any prediction was fulfilled to the very 
letter, this one has been, and is now being, so ful- 
filled by the Ecclesia Docens, the teaching Church 
of Rome. First, as to covetousness, there has never 



412 Lecture XVII. 

been a corporation, since corporations began to be, 
that grasped after property with more avidity, or 
clutched it more tenaciously, than this self-same 
ecclesiastical corporation. Wherever she has had 
half a chance she has invariably become a vast real 
estate owner. Not only Churches, and monasteries, 
and other religious houses, but property y<?r revenue. 
St. Louis is not an exception. And a fact, full of 
bad significance, is that none of this property is, or 
is allowed to be, held by lay trustees or corporators. 
The title, in all cases, must be in the Bishops — the 
sworn feudatories of the Pope. If laymen insist, as 
at Buffalo, N. Y., a few years ago, that Church 
property is for the benefit of the congregation, the 
members of which ought, therefore, to control it 
through their own trustees, they are promptly given 
to understand that holy mother will allow no such 
thing. Property is a source oi power. Rome knows 
that right well, and she allows no opportunity of 
gathering up the reins of authority to escape her. 
History furnishes instances in which half or more of 
the real estate of commonwealths has been in her 
hands. Such a monopoly of land becomes an incu- 
bus on the industry of a country. Individual pro- 
prietorship is necessary to enterprise and thrift. 
This, no doubt, explains, in great part, the low state 
of industrial and commercial interests in Papal 
States as compared with Protestant. 

But how do the priests manage to acquire so 
much property? How? A pertinent and pregnant 
question. Listen, and '' I will a tale unfold." With 
feigned words they make mercha?tdise of the people. 

The chief means of accomplishing this is found in 



Errors of the Papacy. 413 

the doctrine of purgatory and masses for the dead. 
In the Roman theology there is a distinction made 
between the eternal and temporal penalties, which, 
they say, are due the sinner on account of his mortal 
sins. By virtue of priestly absolution, the guilt of 
^/^r;2«/punishment is remitted, so that he is thereby 
delivered from hell. But the temporal penalty is not 
so removed, and must be suffered, either by self- 
inflictions, in the shape of severe penances, in this 
life, or else in the world to come. Now, as God 
never invented these distinctions, he failed to pro- 
vide any place in the next world for the punishment 
of his children, and so the priests were under the 
necessity of getting up one to order to meet the 
emergency of their doctrine ; or else, after inventing 
the place, they made the doctrine to suit it ; I am 
not sure which. This purgatory is a place, possibly 
not so bad as hell, and of limited duration. Such 
as die, not in mortal sin, but under the guilt of un- 
satisfied temporal penalties, must needs make a 
considerable sojourn in purgatory before they can 
ascend to the joys of a better life. It has never 
been settled by the authors of purgatory how bad a 
place it is, nor how long, under any given state of 
the case, a man will be required to stay there. But 
it is generally understood to be very hot, and that 
the torment is no trifle. It is further taught, and 
that upon the highest authority, that the " suffrages 
of the faithful " who are living, help the souls of the 
other faithful who are in purgatory. And surely 
they need help. The place is made more tolerable, 
perhaps, and the time shortened. But of all the aid 
afforded the poor sufferers, none is anything like so 



414 Lecture XVII. 

efficacious as the " acceptable sacrifice of the altar." 
These are the '' masses for the dead," which you 
frequently hear spoken of here in St. Louis. Now, 
suppose a rich man or woman about to die, who has 
good reason to suppose the penances he has per- 
formed have not been half sufficient, and that he is 
about to plunge right into a great fire, to stay there 
no one can guess how long — what will he noi give 
to have abundance of masses said, to help him 
through purgatory on railroad time? There is 
scarcely any man, I take it, after holding his prop- 
erty as long as death will let him, that would not 
pay right liberally to be expressed through. And 
his priest teaches him, on the authority of the 
Council of Trent, that if he will leave a bequest for 
pious uses, he shall, on account of such bequest, have 
the acceptable sacrifice offered for his soul. 

But, perhaps, you would like to see the proof of 
this. Very well, I will accommodate you. The 
Council of Trent is my favorite witness. It shall 
speak now : 

" Whereas, the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy 
Ghost, has, from the sacred writings and the ancient tradition 
of the Fathers, taught in sacred councils, and very recently in 
this ecumenical Synod, that there is a purgatory, and that the 
souls there detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, 
but principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar, the holy 
Synod enjoins on bishops that they diligently endeavor that the 
sound doctrine concerning purgatory, transmitted by the holy 
Fathers and sacred councils, be believed, maintained, taught, 
and every-where proclai77ied, by the faithful of Christ." 

Here you see that bishops are particularly en- 
joined to see to it that *' the sound doctrine 



Errors of the Papacy. 415 

concerning purgatory " be believed^ and " every- 
where proclaimed." That is, the people are to be 
most carefully taught that there is a purgatory, and 
that the souls detained there are helped by the sac- 
rifice of the altar. Again : " But let the bishops 
take care that the suffrages of the faithful who are 
living, to wit I the sacrifices of masses, prayers, alms, 
and other works of piety, which have been wont to 
be performed by the faithful for the other faithful 
departed, be piously and devoutly performed, in ac- 
cordance with the institutes of the Church, and that 
whatsoever is due on their behalf from the endow- 
ments of testators^ or in other way, be discharged, not 
in a perfunctory manner, but diligently, by the 
priests and ministers of the Church and others who 
are bound to render this service." (See xxv. Decree 
concerning Purgatory.) Note two facts : first, en- 
dowments of testators bring the priests in debt to 
the '* faithful departed " who are in purgatory, the 
debt to be "■ discharged " in masses to '^ help " them ; 
and, secondly, the debt is sometimes discharged in 
a '* perfunctory manner," which the decree con- 
demns. But further on in the same session, '' De- 
cree on Reformation," chap, iv, we have it put yet 
more definitely : 

" It frequently happens, in divers churches, either that so 
great a number of masses is required to be celebrated on ac- 
count of various legacies from perso7is deceased, that it is not 
possible to comply therewith on the particular days prescribed 
by the testators ; or that the alms left for the celebration there- 
of /^ so slight that it is not easy to find any one willing to u?i- 
dertake the duty ; whereby the pious intentions of the testators 
are frustrated, and occasion is given for burdening the con- 
sciences of those who are engaged in the aforesaid obligations.. 



4i6 Lecture XVII. 

The Holy Synod, being desirous that these legacies for piaus 
uses be satisfied in the most complete and useful manner pos- 
sible, empowers bishops in diocesan synod, and likewise ab- 
bots and generals of orders in their general chapters, to or- 
dain, in regard hereof, whatsoever, in their consciences, they 
shall, upon a diligent examination of the circumstances, judge 
to be most expedient for God's honor and worship and the 
good of the churches, in those churches aforesaid which they 
shall find stand in need of some regulation in this matter, in 
such wise, however, that a commemoration be always made of 
the departed who, FOR THE WELFARE OF THEIR SOULS, have 
left the said legacies for pioics uses." 

Now, just ask yourself the question, How does 
the Church of Rome obtain the greater part of her 
wealth ? Upon investigation, you will find that it 
comes from legacies. And why do Romanists leave 
the Church so many legacies ? Get your answer 
from these decrees which I have cited. Purgatory 
is a Papal apparatus for squeezing money out of 
dying men and women. And it does its Avork well. 
Albeit, we have the authority of the proverb, that it 
is hard to squeeze blood out of a turnip. Accord- 
ingly, we find that some poor ragamuffins can scarce- 
ly bequeath a sufficient amount to induce any priest 
to say mass for them ! 

In this manner does " Holy Mother " " make 
merchandise " of her children, and that with 
** feigned words." There is not 07ie word or hint in 
Holy Scripture of these masses for the dead ; no, 
nor even in early tradition. The whole of it is a 
fabrication, valuable only to those who make money 
by it, and deeply injurious to the deceived people. 
Not only by legacies, but by working on the sym- 
pathies of the living, money is obtained for masses. 



Errors of the Papacy. 417 

A venerable brother, now in the house, told me that 
a servant in his family asked him for a dollar to give 
to the priest, that mass might be said for the soul 
of her husband, who had been dead twenty years. 
A dollar at a time, I presume, helps them through 
very slowly. This is but one of many such cases which 
I have heard of. By feigned words they make mer- 
chandise even of the hallowed sorrow of bereavement. 

Who can doubt that Peter's eye was on the Ro- 
man hierarchy when he penned those singular wo*"ds : 
" And through covetousness shall they, with feigned 
words, make merchandise of you ?" 

14. From all that has been said, what a meaning 
is given to these words : *' whose coming is after the 
working of Satan." (2 Thess. ii, 9.) Truly this is 
the Man of Sin — the Son of Perdition. Think of 
priests claiming to know things as God ; of a Pope 
holding himself above the judgment of men because 
God is so. And yet those very Popes and priests 
are, many of them, excessively wicked. Under 
vows of chastity, they have often been most un- 
chaste. Think of a company of men deliberately 
imposing false miracles on an ignorant populace, as 
the liquefying of the blood of St. Januarius annu- 
ally, at Naples ; the Madonna, an image with a con- 
trivance to make it v/ink, to make the poor people 
believe the winking voluntary, and other similar 
cases. Think of priests teaching that faith is not 
to be kept with a heretic. Think of the forged de- 
cretals, of making merchandise of God's people, and 
other things more than I have time to enumerate, 
and then read again : " Whose coming is after the 
\vorking of Satan." In the light of history and 



41 8 Lecture XVII. 

facts — facts as they have been and are now — we can 
reach but one conclusion. I say it reluctantly, with 
pain — would to God I were not compelled to say it 
— but it is God's truth, and his providence places 
me where du.ty compels the utterance — these epis- 
tolary prophecies of a great, coming apostasy de- 
scribe the Roman Ecclesia Docens. Parts of the 
descriptions may apply to other things, but in every 
part they concentrate here. This Roman corporation 
fills the bill, and nothing else on earth does. Here 
is the fulfillment of these prophecies— here is the 
Man of Sin. 

15. The apostle has given him a name. And what 
is the name ? Hear it : '^ That Wicked." (2 Thess. 
ii, 8.) 

HI. That Wicked, the Man of Sin, the apostle 
tells us, was to be revealed. Already the apostasy 
was latent in the Church. Strange as it may seem 
to us that such a falling away from God and truth 
should have begun so early, yet so it was. The 
statement of the apostle is explicit : " The mystery 
of iniquity doth already zuork.'' (V. 7.) And, in- 
deed, we have, in two or three places, a glimpse of 
this incipient working of the apostacy. 

1. "Beware lest any man spoil you through phi- 
losophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, 
after the rudiments of the world, and not after 
Christ." (Col. ii, 8:) Even then there were teachers 
ready to spoil the Church by resorting to vain de- 
ceit and human traditions, and in this the subsequent 
Ecclesia Docens can discover its origin. 

2. In the same chapter, vs. 18-23, we have further 
and kindred specifications which betray the dawn of 



Errors of the Papacy. 419 

Romanism : " Let no man beguile you of your re- 
ward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of 
angels^ intruding into those things which he hath not 
seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not 
holding the head, from which all the body, by joints 
and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit 
together, increases with the increase of God. Where- 
fore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments 
of the world, why, as though living in the world, are 
ye subject to ordinances (touch not, taste not, handle 
not, which all are to perish with the using), after the 
commandments and doctrines of men? Which 
things have, indeed, a show of wisdom in will-wor- 
ship and humility, and neglecting of the body ; not 
in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh." Here 
is quite a little out-cropping of Roman strata. The 
apostle aids us in tracing some of the most ancient 
traditions to their source. Want of time hinders a 
full exposition of this place. But you will notice, 
particularly, that false teachers were striving to 
beguile the Colossian Christians, and that those 
teachers were vainly puffed up in their fleshly mind. 
Here is the germ of an arrogant, pretentious clergy. 
They were intruding into those things which they 
had not seen, thus leading the Church to the worship 
of angels, by a gratuitous species of humility. Here 
are the forerunners of those who, in after times, pre- 
tended to know who to canonize, and make a list of 
saints to be invoked by the faithful. But the apostle 
warns us that all these things separate us from the 
divine Head and from his spiritual body. They are 
also accompanied by an unworthy subjugation to 

ordinances, after the commandments and doctrines 

27 



420 Lecture XVII. 

of men. Here, also, we have a clue to the sense in 
which the apostle uses the word philosophy, in verse 
8. ThesQ things have 3. s/iow 0/ wzsdo7n. They are 
commended to the minds of the unwary by specious 
pretexts and explanations. 

See the seed that has sprung up to such luxurious 
growth in the Ecclesia Docens of Rome. 

3. The Church at Ephesus is commended thus: 
*' Thou hast tried them which saj/ they are apostles, 
and are not, and hast found them liars." (Rev. ii, 2.) 
Pretenders to apostolic honor appear thus early on 
the stage. They were precursors. 

4. In the Churches of Pergamos and Thyatira were 
found the Nicolaitans and that '* woman Jezebel," 
accompanied by vicious practices, such as blacken 
the after history of the Roman Church. (Rev. ii, 
14-20.) There was already the fornication which 
had such fearful way in connection with the practice 
of priestly celibacy. Such are the traces which we 
find of the mystery of iniquity, already working in 
apostolic times, and they flash a world of light upon 
the path of our investigations. 

But the apostle alludes to some influence which he 
does not identify, which, at that time, held the in- 
cipient apostasy in check : *' And now ye know what 
withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. 
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only 
he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of 
the way." (Vs. 6, 7.) ^'A7td then shall that Wicked 
be revealed." (V. 8.) What was that which stood 
in the way of the revelation of '* that Wicked?" It 
struck me, on reading the text, that it was probably 
the pagan, Roman government. With this view I 



Errors of the Papacy. 421 

find judicious commentators to agree, and it seems 
to have been so understood by the early Christians. 
The Thessalonians knew what it was, for the apostle 
had told them when he was with them. (Vs. 5, 6.) 
Probably he refrained from committing it to writing, 
lest, if found there, it might compromise them in 
some way with the civil authorities. Upon the sup- 
position that the restraining agent was the unfriendly 
Roman government, the text is readily understood. 
The papal assumptions could not flourish under the 
shade of an inimical throne. But so soon as the 
antagonistic civil power was *^ taken out of the way," 
and State patronage was extended to the Church, 
the papacy sprang forward in its career of pride, 
presumption and apostasy, with amazing speed. 
That Wicked was revealed. 

I had often been struck with the remarkable por- 
traiture of Romanism contained in the epistles, but 
never understood how complete it was, until my at- 
tention was more particularly drawn to it. The 
passages which give it are neither numerous nor ex- 
tended. But they are introduced with great solem- 
nity and emphasis, and with language that attracts 
attention to them, as containing matter of great 
moment. And, by a few rapid touches of a skillful 
pencil, the picture is completed, and stands out 
upon the canvas perfect from head to foot. One 
glance at the likeness, and you can never mistake 
the original. In this lecture I have shown you this 
and that, side by side. My task has not been a 
pleasant one. The man of sin, sitting in the temple 
of God, must ever be an unwelcome sight to Chris- 
tian eyes. Much more so to see him shozuing 



422 Lecture XVII. 

himself that he is God. I have left much unsaid, for 
want of time ; but I feel conscious that I have said 
enough to produce conviction in your mind. That 
Church, whose history is so dark, and which is the 
counterpart of the apostate described in the epistles, 
must be the Church of the great apostasy. 

That there are none of God's elect in the fallen 
Church is more than I dare to say. Some sincere 
and pious Romanist may hear me to-night — some 
one who sees dimly, through mists of educational 
influences, the deadly departure from God which 
characterizes the Ecclesia Docens, in her history and 
her dogmas. To such I say. Follow the truth, and 
fear not. Follow the truths follow God's word, let it 
lead you where it may. The bolt of excommunica- 
tion will pursue you in vain. If it touches, it will not 
blast you. The baptism of truth will render you 
invulnerable in every part. Fear nothing but God. 
Fly from nothing but error and sin. Hear the 
voice of the Almighty. He speaks ! He calls to 
you — to you : '' Come out of her — COME OUT OF 
HER, my people I " 

Next Sunday evening I will call your attention 
to the symbolical prophecies concerning the Roman 
Church. 



Errors of the Papacy. 423 



LECTURE XVIII. 

A CASE HYPOTHECATED AND MET — ANOTHER HY- 
POTHECATED CASE — THE TABLES TURNED — THE 
ROMAN CHURCH IN THE LIGHT OF SYMBOLIC 
PROPHECY. 

I SHALL request my audience to indulge me in 
an episode this evening. A case has been hy- 
pothecated for me with a view of showing me that the 
Protestant rule of faith is insufficient; and, in con- 
nection with the case, a question is put, which I am 
requested to answer this evening. This comes 
from a source respectable at least for intelligence, 
and the request is respectfully made ; and as the 
case presented embraces the very essence of the 
controversy, so far as the right of private judgment 
is concerned, and as it is stated in the strongest and 
most striking manner against the Protestant theory, 
I have concluded to turn aside for a moment and 
give you a brief examination of it. And, that the 
opposite side may appear in its full strength, and 
the answer reach the heart of the objection, I will, 
in the first place, read you the case as it has been 
put to me. It is as follows : — 

" Suppose, sir, that I was a heathen, just arrived in a Chris- 
tian land, and had never heard of the Christian's God, or of the 
Christian plan of salvation. Suppose, further, that twenty cler- 
gyman, (yourself included,) being apprised of my arrival, sought 
rne out, for the purpose of converting me to the Christian faith. 



4^4 Lecture XVIII. 

Your own Church is the place where you all agree to meet me, 
to teach me its principles, its precepts, its hopes and rewards. 

" I appear before you twenty Teachers in Israel, and say. 
Rev. Gentlemen and Fathers, I am an humble but sincere in- 
quirer after truth. I have heard of your religion, and am anx- 
ious to receive instruction. How can I reach that Heaven of 
which you teach ? What must I do to inherit the eternal life 
of which you preach ? " 

" One of the clergymen present is a Methodist. He answers 
me thus, ' You must repent and avoid hell.' 

" ' Nonsense,' says another, a Universalis!, ' there is na 
hell.' 

" The Episcopalian minister present says, ' You must believe 
in a Holy Trinity, three persons in one God — God the Father, 
God the Son, and God the Spirit ! ' 

" ' Blasphemy, ' cries out the Unitarian minister, ' there is 
but one God. Jesus is no more than a man ! ' 

" ' You must be baptized by being immersed in water, or 
you will be damned,' says the Baptist minister present. 

"'That's a lie,' says the Presbyterian minister; 'baptism is 
just as valid by pouring or sprinkling.' " 

[If the writer had been as well acquainted with 
Presbyterian clergymen as I am, he would have 
attributed politer language to them.] 

" ' False, both of you,' says the Quaker. ' The baptism of 
the Spirit is what is required. Water baptism is a humbug. 
St. Paul denounces, or speaks lightly, of water baptism, and 
thanks God that he baptized none of you,' etc. 'Christ sent 
me,' he says, 'not to baptize,' etc. 

"'There are three orders in the holy ministry,' says the 
High Churchman. 

" ' Not so,' replies the Presbyterian ; ' there are only two.' 

" * And I,' says the Quaker, ' deny that Christ ever instituted 
any order in the ministry at all.' 

" I might go on further with these contradictions of each 
other, but it is unnecessar}^ I then advance to you and say, 
' Rev. Father, I cannot understand all this. You all disagree 



Errors of the Papacy. 425 

among yourselves on points of the most vital concern. I (who 
am a poor unlearned heathen) cannot determine which is 
right. But I believe you are a sincere and just man. Will you, 
holy Father, tell me what I must do } ' 

" With that goodness of heart for which you are so well 
known, you take me by the hand and say, ' Most cheerfully, my 
poor, benighted heathen friend, I will do so. Ta^e the book, 
this Holy Bible, this Bible alone. Do not give further heed to 
what these nineteen brawlers say, but just simply do what 
this Holy Book tells you.' 

" * But,' I answer, ' Rev. Father, the rest of the nineteen all 
say the same thing ; they all say they get their religion from 
that very Book, and from it alone. They all tell me that the 
Bible contains the revealed will of God, yet no two of them 
agree what that revealed will is. I am, it is true, a poor, 
benighted heathen ; but it seems to me that if there is an 
Almighty God, and he ever did make a revelation of his will to 
man, he ipso facto intended absolutely that all men should be- 
lieve it alike. For example, he never intended to teach the 
Methodist that there IS a hell, and the Universalist that there is 
NO hell. Can you. Rev. Father, explain that to me ? ' 

" ' Oh ! my poor heathen friend,' you reply, ' I pity you. 
You are liable to be assailed by many temptations. These 
rascally Universalists are not Christians ; we do not recognize 
them ! ' 

" ' But, holy Father,' I answer, ' they appeal to the text you 
yourself propose — the Bible alone. They prove from the Bible 
the doctrine they wish to teach me ! ' You reply, ' They are 
mistaken, deluded ! ' I answer, ' They say the same of you ! ' 

" Now, Rev. Sir, I ask you how the poor heathen is to de- 
cide, in this clash and conflict of opinions } 

" Am I not fully justified in saying, ' Farewell, Rev. Fathers 
and Gentlemen, I shall return to my heathenism. For you have 
satisfactorily assured me, in view of your contradictions, that 
the Bible is a humbug, revealed religion a lie, and Jesus Christ- 
is a Juggler.' 

" Is that not the natural, logical, inevitable result to which I 
(the poor heathen) am led ? " 



426 Lecture XVIII. 

Now, this hypothecated case brings out very 
clearly and strongly a point which Romanists rely 
on as an objection against the Protestant Rule of 
Faith — the Bible alone. It brings out also, with equal 
force, a fact to which infidels appeal as an argument 
against all religion. And, as I regard it, it is just as 
available and conclusive in the one as in the other. 

Now, I propose to look this fact full in the 
face, for the truth shuns nothing and shrinks from 
nothing. And for myself, I fear no fact, nor any 
hypothesis, nor any case, supposed or real. And if 
any man zd^n prove to me that my rule of faithJs not 
the correct one, I am ready to abandon it. 

This case which has been put to me goes upon 
the supposition that a divinely appointed rule of 
faith ought to accomplish a certain object, that it 
ought to produce a given result, and that whatever 
fails to produce that result is to be rejected as a 
rule of faith, _/<?r that reason. Allow me to say that, 
if I am permitted to make a predicate of every 
proposition which I may suppose ought to be true, I 
can prove whatever I choose with the greatest 
facility. But, waiving this for the present, let us 
proceed to examine the case. And I beg your 
careful attention to every part of my argument. If 
I fail to present it in a satisfactory light, one of two 
things follows : either the truth is against me, or, it 
being on my side, I am not able to defend it. In 
any case I beg you to inspect every position I take 
narrowly, and if there is a flaw anywhere, find it 
for me and let me know the fact. 

I. The case which has been subniittecj to me is 
not fairly put. For, 



Errors of the Papacy. 427 

I. The difficulty which the heathen would en- 
counter is exaggerated in one aspect. The evan- 
gelical denominations are represented as giving 
conflicting answers to the question, '' What must I 
do to inherit eternal life ? " Every man, well in- 
formed on this subject, knows this is not the fact. 
The great leading denominations of Protestantism in 
Europe and America would give the same answer to 
this question. It is not until they go beyond this 
vital question that they begin to differ. In the 
vast regions of metaphysics and speculative theolo- 
gy, opinion amongst them becomes multiform ; and 
so it is amongst the theologians of the Roman 
Church, so far as they have adventured. In refer- 
ence to ecclesiastical policy and discipline they also 
differ. Even Rome herself does not maintain the 
same discipline in all places. General Councils them- 
selves are not held to be infallible in matters of this 
sort. 

The ministers of the great Protestant denomina- 
tions, then, would agree in giving the same answer to 
the all-important question supposed to be put by 
the heathen, and they would further agree in assuring 
him that the other questions, in reference to which 
they differ, are not vital. So that in this aspect the 
difficulty has been greatly and unjustly exaggerated. 

2. In the other aspect it is not fully stated. The 
case is intended to present the facts as a heathen 
would find them in a country where Protestantism 
is in the ascendant, and to make from that state of 
facts an argument against Protestant theory. The 
Protestant principle — that is, the right of private 
judgment in questions of faith — is the very founda- 



428 Lecture XVIII. 

tion of religious freedom. And wherever this pre- 
vails, there will be, in addition to the various Protest- 
ant denominations, Romanists, and avowed infidels. 
And as I desire to fight no men of straw, and to 
gain no empty, nor even partial victories, but to 
encounter infantry, cavalry, artillery, and all, I will 
voluntarily add these two brigades to the grand 
army mustered in the case submitted to me. In 
doing so, I only meet the case as it is in fact ; for, 
wherever liberty of thought prevails, every species 
of error will be sure to come out and avow itself, 
and gain adherents. Add, then, the priest and the 
infidel to the twenty (or more if you choose) Protest- 
ant ministers whom the heathen must encounter, 
and you have the confusion that would stun his 
ears fairly represented. 

II. He does, in fact ^ find conflicting opinions as to 
what he mu'st do to be saved, or whether, indeed, he 
must do any thing or not. 

Protestant, Romanist, Universalist, Deist, Atheist, 
and Philosopher, will give him a list of answers that 
would do credit to a bedlam. And if he be a man 
of ordinary understanding, and have any regard for 
God, or concern for his own soul, he will do what 
he can to see whether or not truth may be found in 
the midst of this confusion. 

III. In this effort he will encounter three difficul- 
ties in respect to the Christian revelation : 

1. That God should have made a revelation and 
yet that some men, in spite of it, should be infidels. 

2. That many who receive the revelation should 
differ as to what it consists of, whether the Bible 
alone, or the Bible and tradition. 



Errors of the Papacy. 429 

3. That some who agree as to what it consists of 
should interpret it zvith a difference^ and that on 
vital poiyits. For he would, indeed, find some who 
appeal to the Bible disagreeing upon these points. 

IV. He would be as likely to suppose that a reve- 
lation would be, ipso facto^ believed by all, and that 
all zvould agree as to zvhat it consists of, as he would 
to suppose that it would be understood alike by all. 
Indeed, it would be just as reasonable to ask why 
the Christian revelation has not been published 
among all people, and received universally among 
all people, as to ask why there are differences of 
opinion in reference to its import. Indeed, the want 
of universal diffusion is probably, with many, a 
greater difficulty than the variety of creeds. 

V. If my heathen friend should taunt me with 
the fact that while each one of the Protestant parties 
appeals to the Bible in support of its views, some of 
them denounce each other as being deluded, I would 
say with the apostle, " Let God be true, and every 
man a liar." That men have the perverse faculty 
of '* changing the truth of God into a lie " is in no 
reasonable view of the case a disparagement of the 
truth itself. No more is it a disparagement of the 
Holy Bible that perverse minds pervert it. If per- 
sistent error seeks to cloak itself by distorted and 
dislocated citations of Scripture, and " even the 
devil himself quotes Scripture for his purpose," there 
is no proof in all this that the sincere and open- 
hearted may not go to that fountain of divine knowl- 
edge with the certainty of finding the object of 
their search. God's precious gifts to men are all 
abused ; shall we therefore spurn them ? The man 



430 Lecture XVIII. 

who should refuse bread because some will eat to 
gluttony, would find appropriate quarters in an in- 
sane asylum. No more rationally would he act 
who should shun all use of money, because some 
pervert it to miserly and others to profligate pur- 
poses. Shall we then despise that priceless gift, the 
revealed will of God, his written Word, because 
some men misuse it, and even pervert it to erroneous 
uses ? Every man of candor and good sense must 
unite in saying No ! 

VI. If my friend should threaten to go back to 
his heathenism because the Christian revelation is 
not, ipso facto, received and understood alike by all, 
I would reply, '* You are premature. You are de- 
ciding too hastily on so grave a question. It is not 
the part of reason to reject a religion on the exami- 
nation of a single point connected with it. If this 
fact seems, to your mind, to argue a want of truth 
In the claim that the Bible is God's revealed will, 
examine other facts, and you may find an array of 
testimony in its favor that will overbear all objec- 
tions. Indeed, upon more mature reflection, you 
will see that in this fact itself t\\e.YQ is no solid ground 
of objection against the Bible ; for the manner in 
zvhich truth is received and treated in a wicked world 
is no test of its claims.'^ 

VII. If he should then say, '' What shall I do? I 
am sincere ; I desire to know if Christianity be true ; 
and, if so, what it teaches in order to salvation ;" I 
would say, ^' Come, let us go to \.\\^ fountain of truth 
— the Bible. Let us read the Book which teaches this 
religion. We will put up with no second-hand in- 
formation." 



Errors of the Papacy. 431 

VIII. Should he object to reading a book appealed 
to by twenty different parties, in support of as many 
conflicting theories, each party charging the others 
with delusion, I would say, " Really, now, my friend, 
this is foolish and unfair. Let us go to the Book it- 
self^ and see if it contains the CAUSE of all these 
differences^ He would be obliged to see and ad- 
mit the reasonableness of the suggestion. No man 
could do otherwise. 

IX. I would then remind him that this world is 
wonderfully given to falsehood, and show him where 
Jesus said, '' Men love darkness rather than light, 
because their deeds are evil." In view of all which 
I would convince him. that the chief wonder is, that 
so large a portion of those who admit the Bible as 
their only rule of faith agree in vital points. To 
prove this to him, I would take him to a union prayer- 
meeting, or to a protracted revival meeting, con- 
ducted by the ministers of the principal denomina- 
tions of the country, where the terms of salvation 
supply the staple of preaching. He should hear no 
dissonant sound to mar the harmony of the scene. 
A careful reference to his Bible will show him, stand- 
ing out upon its pages in bold relief, the saving truth 
which he hears proclaimed by those living teachers. 
He will see how that truth opposes and mortifies the 
strongest propensities of the human heart, and that 
there can scarcely be any motive for embracing it ex- 
cept the love of truth for its own sake. Let him now 
examine the opinions of those erratic parties who 
differ from these in reference to the saving truth, 
and he will discover the propensities of the human 
heart, striving to bring the truth of God down to- 



432 Lecture XVIII. 

ward their own level. From that moment the vast 
circumference of the actual unity of evangelical be- 
lief must become an object of admiration to him, and 
a most convincing proof of XSx^ power of Bible truth. 
Against the pride, and willfulness, and love of the 
world, that rule the human heart with such despotic 
sway, it makes such headway as to establish '' the 
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," over the 
almost unbroken area occupied by the admitted and 
sole authority of the Bible. No force produces this 
unity except the single force which is compatible 
with liberty — the power of truth. The real triumph 
of truth is seen here. The great majority of those 
who receive the Bible agree upon its meaning in refer- 
ence to saving truth. With this fact in mind, con- 
sider — 

1 . This agreement is spontaneous. It does not come 
of organized combinations, nor is it the result of 
collusion, nor yet of fear. There is no repression of 
thought. There is independent, unfaltering investi- 
gation. There is absolute freedom, restrained only 
by the authority of one Book. It is not the result 
of ecclesiastical pressure, nor of hierarchical collu- 
sion. No theory of interested authority or influence 
can account for it, for there is no vestige of any such 
thing. It is simply the result of conviction from 
the free, untrammeled study of the Word of God. 

2. This agreement of faith is on a very high level 
of truth ; far above any human propensity or inter- 
est. Self-abnegation and cross-bearing are the chief 
features of this truth in its practical bearings. If 
this objective faith, in which Christian freemen so 
generally unite, were the counterpart of any class of 



Errors of the Papacy. 433 

the depraved propensities of human nature, or if it 
were found upon the plane of worldly interest, then 
its spontaneity might be accounted for by the mo- 
tives common amongst men. As it is, it can be 
accounted for only by the commanding nature of the 
truth itself. 

3. The comparatively small parties which, admit- 
ting the sole authority of Holy Scripture, are heret- 
ical in questions of saving truth, are simply the ex- 
ceptions IV hie h prove the rule. They are instances of 
minds partly subjugated to truth, but whose fealty 
is not all commanding. 

4. The thoughtful heathen, by the time he has 
reached this point, well aware of the strength and 
universality of depraved opposition to evangelical 
truth, will wonder, chiefly, that the exceptions are 
not more numerous. 

X. In searching the Scriptures he will soon learn 
that God compels neither correct belief nor a holy life ; 
but that, having supplied the means to both, he will 
punish dereliction in tJte one and the other with equal 
rigor. 

If some who admit the authority of the Bible do 
yet deny its saving doctrine, many more of them dis- 
obey its holy laws. In both cases their responsibility 
is to the Supreme Judge, as I have shown in pre- 
vious lectures. A man is as much accountable for 
his faith as he is for his actions. '^ He that believeth 
not shall be damned." Any rule of faith that should 
create an absolute impossibility of erroneous belief 
would destroy accountability in this respect. But 
as the Bible distinctly teaches the fact of account- 
ability in respect to faith, it follows that the rule of 



434 Lecture XVIII. 

faith must be such as to make correct faith a duty, 
and render its attainment possible, and yet leave 
room for human agency, which involves the possi- 
bility of dereliction. With this the Protestant theory 
agrees exactly. The penalty in cases of willful mis- 
belief and willful rebellion is the same. All this 
my heathen disciple would readily understand and 
appreciate, and by this time he would be in a fair 
way of becoming an intelligent Christian, under the 
tuition of the Holy Spirit speaking in the Bible, and 
upon the primitive apostolic model. 

XL The argument implied in the case hypothe- 
cated is this : That, God being perfect, we would, a 
priori, expect him to give to man a rule of faith that 
would secure absolute uniformity of belief; but the 
Protestant rule does not secure such uniformity of 
belief; therefore the Protestant rule of faith is not 
that one which God gave. To this I answer : 

1. The major proposition is not correct. True, 
God is perfect, and, a priori, we must believe that 
any rule of faith coming from him is perfect. The 
result produced on human minds by this perfect rule 
is quite another thing. Or, to approach the subject 
from another direction : Given — a perfect God pro- 
ducing a rule of faith. Result — a perfect rule. Then 
given — a perfect rule of faith proposed to fallen 
moral agents. Result — ^just what you see in this 
world. You see that the argument under consider- 
ation ignores the character of the mind to which the 
rule is to be proposed. In a world of angels it would 
hold good, but in this world it is a great way from 
home. 

2. If the argument were good, it would hold 



Errors of the Papacy. 435 

against the Romanist rule of faith as well as the 
Protestant, for even that fails to secure absolute 
uniformity of belief. Such uniformity has never ex- 
isted, not even under Hildebrand nor Innocent III. 
The Inquisition always found employment, and its 
very existence is monumental proof that the Roman 
rule of faith never did nor could produce absolute uni- 
formity of faith. Never ! " Inquisitors of heretical 
pravity " scattered all over Papal countries, as Italy 
and Spain, where the Church holds in fee, and where 
her rule of faith meets with no obstruction, are swift 
witnesses against the arrogant and empty declama- 
tion which we hear upon this topic. If her rule 
could have produced uniformity, the word Inquisitor 
would have had no place in our dictionaries to-day. 

3. The idea of producing absolute uniformity of 
faith is utterly Utopian. It is not only impracticable 
— it is impossible, as the arguments and facts just 
given demonstrate. One of two things must be 
done before such a result can be reached : either 
you must destroy man's moral agency, and reduce 
him to the control of mechanical laws, or elevate 
him to the level of celestial excellence. And as we 
see no fair prospect of accomplishing either of these, 
the boasted uniformity must remain where it has 
ever been, in the unapproachable Utopia. 

4. A vain effort, on the part of Rome, to secure 

this end, has resulted in inhuman cruelty and a 

world of bloodshed. Several of my former lectures 

abound with historical proofs of the persecution of 

heretics, on the mere ground of heresy, by the Roman 

Church. Those proofs are unchallenged, and must 

forever remain unchallenged. Every man convers- 
28 



43^ Lecture XVIII. 

ant with the past knows them to be true. With all 
her censorship of the press, and forbidding of pri- 
vate judgment ; with all her care and vigilance, she 
had yet to resort to the exterminating brand. Her 
effort to secure unvarying uniformity of belief has 
resulted in two things : it has made herself a very 
demon of destruction, and demonstrated to the world 
the IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE OBJECT. 

XII. A priori, w^e would expect a perfect rule of 
faith, proposed to fallen man, and even received by 
him, to be, in some instances, abused ; just as the 
perfect law is. 

The fact corresponds with this, and does not, 
therefore, militate, in any just view of the case, 
against either the truth of Revelation, or the fact 
that it is God's own rule of faith for man. 

On the other hand, the fact that so large a ma- 
jority of those who receive the Bible as their only 
rule of faith agree in all vital points, is proof that a 
correct belief is practicable ; and that heresy in sav- 
ing doctrine is a fault to be punished by the Infi- 
nite Judge, is clearly taught in the book itself. Let 
no man vainly imagine that he can get rid of his re- 
sponsibility in this respect. To his Master he must 
stand or fall. 

I have met the case so ingeniously presented, and 
shown an open pathway for the honest heathen, un- 
der the Protestant rule of faith, to intelligent Chris- 
tian belief. Now, let me hypothecate a case. 

Suppose these United States subjugated to the 
Pope, a tribunal of Inquisition in every considerable 
town, and Inquisitors scattered all over the land, as 
keen to scent heresy as a blood-hound the track of 



Errors of the Papacy. 437 

the cautious fugitive. The Trent decree against the 
circulation of the Bible is in force. The voice of 
every Protestant teacher is hushed by fear, or in 
the grave. The sword of the temporal prince is at 
the service of the ecclesiastical authorities, and 
thought is awed into acquiescence or silence. Men 
think as Rome permits. In this state of thmgs, sup- 
pose a heathen man thrown upon our shores. He 
sees the splendor and the power of the Church, and 
his imagination is impressed. He witnesses a pro- 
cession carrying the host, and every knee bows as 
it passes. Every temple has a full supply of images, 
which his uninstructed mind readily classifies with 
the images of his gods. The Roman idea of unity 
is as nearly realized as it is possible for it to be. 
With all these advantages, the priest takes the hea- 
then in hand to Christianize him, and the following 
dialogue ensues : 

Priest. I have come, my poor, benighted friend, 
to instruct you in our holy, Christian faith. 

Heathen. I appreciate your kindness, sir. But 
please begin at the beginning, and tell me how I 
may know your religion to be true ? 

P. Jesus Christ proved his claims by many great 
miracles, and by his own pure, heavenly doctrine. 

H. Have you that doctrine ? 

P. We have. 

H. By what means has it been preserved ? 

P. It was in part written by inspired men, and in 
part handed down by tradition. 

H. Have you those writings ? 

P. We have. They have been preserved with 
great care. 



438 Lecture XVIII. 

H. Let me see them. 

P. I would rather not. I will tell you what they 
teach. 

H. But I prefer to read it in the book itself. 

P. Holy Church, my friend, enjoins oral instruc- 
tion. 

H. Be kind enough to tell me, then, what mean 
these trials for heresy that I hear about ? 

P. They are trials of men who, claiming to judge 
for themselves in matters of faith, reject some of the 
doctrines of Holy Church, and hold others which 
she condemns. 

H. Do you have much trouble with such 
men ? 

P. A great deal. There have been many of them, 
in all ages. 

H. How do you manage them ? 

P. Convert them ; or, in failure of that, destroy 
them. 

H. Have you had many of them to destroy ? 

P. Yes ; our great Bellarmine says that almost an 
infinite number were either burned or otherwise put 
to death. Sometimes we have had to raise armies 
to send against them. We have had armies of three 
hundred thousand men at once engaged in the ex- 
termination of heretics. The Waldenses, Vaudois, 
Hussites, and others have given the Church a world 
of trouble. 

H. This seems very suspicious to me. That you 
should keep the written word of God from the peo- 
ple, and that, when they do read it for themselves, 
they, in such numbers, and in the face of death, re- 
pudiate your teachings, is calculated to cast a very 



Errors of the Papacy. 439 

dark suspicion on your pretentions. I shall never 
be satisfied until I see those writings. 

P. O ! you shall see them, you shall see them ; only 
5''ou must be sure to understand them in the sense 
that Holy Mother gives them. They are very dan- 
gerous when not interpreted by her. They breed 
schism and all sorts of heresy. They cause divisions 
and introduce strifes ; whereas, Holy Church is 
united, and everywhere the same. 

H. What ! A revelation of God's will on the sub- 
ject of human salvation dangerous I The revealed 
will of God a fruitful source of heresy ! Preposter- 
ous ! I don't believe a word of it. 

The priest instructs him carefully in the traditions, 
and reluctantly hands a copy of the Holy Script- 
ures. In due time he returns for a further conver- 
sation. 

H. I am delighted with your Bible. I never saw 
any thing like it in my country. Such an account 
of the creation ! at once so simple and so God-like. 
The man who reads only that must be more than 
half a believer in the divine inspiration of the 
Book. And yet nobler are its ideas of God, and its 
spiritual doctrine. But how is this? I find your 
traditions flatly contradicted. 

P. In what case ? 

H. Why, in many which I have found, even in 
so short a time. Bowing down to images, for 
instance. 

P. Have you been talking with any of the her- 
etics ? 

H. I have never seen one. I thought you had ex- 
terminated them. 



440 Lecture XVIII. 

P. We do our best ; but they exist, secretly, in 
spite of us. But, my dear friend, you must not pre- 
sume to interpret the Scriptures for yourself. I 
will tell you the sense which the Church gives them, 
and you must — POSITIVELY MUST — receive it. You 
can't understand them without help. 

H. ^' Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them." 
Can't I understand that? 

jP. That is just what I was afraid of when I 
gave you the book. It absolutely makes more her- 
etics than any other book in the world. 

//^. Then you say that " Confess your faults one 
to another," means confess your sins to the priest ? 

P. The Church knozvs the true meaning. 

H. Can the Church make language that says one 
thing mean another? 

P. Be cautious, (pointing to a dungeon of the In- 
quisition,) you talk just like the heretics. 

H. I see how it is. If Christianity be true, your 
Church has corrupted it, and I leave you forever. I 
see through your unity. It is a unity oi fear, not 
oi faith. It {'^forced, and not free. Your Rule of 
FaitJi does not produce it. It is produced by the 
authority of the civil magistrate, who is under your 
control, and smites where you bid him. From your 
bloody Church I turn away. But I am enamored 
with the Scriptures. The day of truth has dawned 
from them upon my mind. I will search them as 
Jesus bids me ; and hope soon to see the bright, 
broad disc of the sun of righteousness and truth 
full upon my meridian, and to walk firmly in the 
bright shining of his mid-day light. FAREWELL ! 

I have but little time remaining to devote to the 



Errors of the Papacy. 441 

subject announced for the evening. But I will in- 
troduce it, and place it in a posture for more ex- 
tended examination a week hence. The subject 
proposed, as you will remember, is " The Symbolical 
Prophecies of the Papacy," in the Old and New 
Testament Scriptures. But, before proceeding with 
the investigation of them, I will submit a few 
general remarks, upon the nature and importance 
of the prophetic Scriptures. 

Prophecy, in the specific acceptation of the term, 
is the announcement of a fact previous to its exist- 
ence, or of any occurrence before it takes place. 
After its fulfillment it becomes a standing, divine 
witness of the truth of Scripture. Perhaps this is 
the chief use of prophecy. But its testimony is no 
less conclusive in pointing out and identifying per- 
nicious errors and fatal evils arising in the history 
of the Church. By faithful delineation and solemn 
warning, the prophetic Scriptures guard the Church 
against these things. Nor is there danger, to an 
ordinarily judicious mind, of being misled. A 
minute, prophetic description, corresponding pre- 
cisely with its subject, existing many hundreds of 
years after the description was given, cannot lead 
to error. If only some leading fact were stated — a 
fact which might belong, in common, to several 
clusters of facts — it would amount to but little. 
But when a system or organization is described with 
great particularity of detail, and the description is 
localized, in respect both to tz7ne and p/ace, the 
identification is easy, and the proof of it absolutely 
irresistible. 

Such are the descriptive prophecies which I pre- 



442 Lecture XVIII. 

sented last Sunday evening. A great apostasy is 
described. It is localized in place: " in the temple, 
or Church, of God ;" and in time: its development 
was to be upon the removal of the pagan civil 
government. A full score of minute facts are then 
given, each one of which is found in the Papacy, 
and all of which, when taken together, form a life- 
like portraiture of the Roman Ecclesia Docens. 
There can be no mistake. 

In approaching the symbolical prophecies, I shall 
not attempt to play the oracle, in deciding every 
doubtful point. But we are guided, in the true in- 
terpretation of them, in many important particulars, 
by inspired directions. I shall endeavor to confine 
myself to such expositions as shall commend them- 
selves to your own common sense. If I transcend 
this limit, you yourselves will be the first to discover 
the fact. 

It is not my purpose to attempt any settlement 
of questions of chronology, especially such as refer 
to the time of the downfall of the Papacy. All that 
I leave to others, who may be more inclined to such 
investigations. My only object is to ascertain if 
those prophecies do clearly, and without any sort 
of question, /^z>// us to the Roman Church for their 
fulfillment^ and^ if so, what character they ascribe to 
that Church. You will be pleased to bear in mind 
that these are the only objects which I keep in view 
in this examination. 

1 . Is the Roman Church the subject of these prophe- 
cies ? 

2. In what character do they present her ? 

I shall, this evening, confine myself to a brief ex- 



Errors of the Papacy. 443 

position of only one of those prophecies which seem 
to me to point out the Papacy. It is contained in 
the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel. The 
prophecy embraces the whole of this chapter, and, 
although other matters are included, they appear 
to be subservient to this one, which evidently occu- 
pied the prophet's vision chiefly. He had a vision 
of four beasts, which he described as follows : 

" The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I beheld 
until the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from 
the earth, and made stand upon the feet of a man, and a man's 
heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, 
like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three 
ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it ; and they said 
thus unto it : Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, 
and lo, another, hke a leopard, which had upon the back of it 
four wings of a fowl ; the beast had also four heads ; and do- 
minion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, 
and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong 
exceedingly : and it had great iron teeth ; it devoured and brake 
in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it ; and it 
had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold there came 
up among them another little horn, before whom there were 
three of the first horn plucked up by the roots ; and behold in 
this horn there were eyes, like the eyes of man, and a mouth 
speaking great things." (Vs. 4-8.) 

Those who have paid little or no attention to the 
prophetic writings will, perhaps, ask, What does all 
this mean, and how can any one know its meaning ? 
If you say the beasts are so many symbols, who 
knows what they are symbols of? Is every man, 
who may constitute himself an interpreter of Script- 
ure, to make them symbolize just anything that may 
\nswer the demands of any arbitrary theory he may 



444 Lecture XVIII. 

choose to originate ? I answer, Certainly not. In 
such a case as that, prophecy would be a thing of 
no value, and its utterances could command no 
respect. But the prophet has, himself, furnished 
the key which unlocks the symbolical mysteries of 
this place. At first, even he did not understand it. 
'' I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit, in the midst 
of my body, and the visions of my head troubled 
me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, 
and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, 
and made me know the interpretation of the things. 
These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, 
which shall arise out of the earth." (Vs. 15, 17.) 

Now we have the elite. And, that we may pro- 
ceed safely at this point, the prophet further ex- 
plains that by the term king he intends kingdom. 
For, after having said that the four beasts are four 
kings, he proceeds to define the fourth more closely, 
thus : " The fourth beast shall be the fourth king- 
dom!' (V. 23.) This point established, we must now 
ascertain what partieular kingdoms are represented. 

It has been generally held, by commentators, that 
they are the four great empires of antiquity, the 
Assyrian, the Medo-Persian, the Macedonian, (some- 
times called the Grecian,) and the Roman. Not to 
trouble you with the reasons given in every case, I 
will simply say that, in several aspects of the subject, 
this interpretation seems reasonable, and in view of 
some facts, it can, I think, scarcely be discarded by 
any. This will, I think, appear in what I am about 
to say. 

If this theory be correct, we are chiefly interested, 
m this discussion, in the fourth beast. And it is 



Errors of the Papacy. 445 

not a little remarkable that Daniel's mind was 
chiefly engrossed by this one. Interests were con- 
nected with it of infinitely greater account than with 
the others ; insomuch that, having obtained the 
general statement that the four beasts were four 
kings, he immediately passes over the first three, and 
says : "/ would know the truth of the fourth beast, 
which was diverse from all the others, exceeding 
dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of 
brass ; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped 
the residue with his feet ; and of the ten horns that 
were in his head, and of the other which came up, 
and before whom three fell ; even of that horn that 
had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, 
whose look was more stout than his fellows." 
(Vs. 19, 20.) This beast, so striking in his mien, 
with the singular mystery of the ten horns, and the 
yet more singular phenomenon of the little horn 
coming up after the ten, and displacing three of 
them, commanded the prophet's interest so com- 
pletely that he seems to have overlooked all the 
others. The strange significance of this one was the 
object of instant and solicitous inquiry. He would 
know the truth of this fourth beast. Accordingly, 
the interpretation was at once given, and it is no 
difficult task to understand it. '' The fourth beast 
shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, Avhich shall 
be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the 
whole earth, and shall tread it down and break it in 
pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom 
are ten kings that shall arise : and another shall 
arise after them, and he shall be diverse from the 
first, and he shall subdue three kings." (23, 24.) 



44^ Lecture XVIII. 

The particularity of this is certainly all sufficient to 
the identification of the fulfillment. The points 
made are sufficiently numerous, and, withal, suffi- 
ciently peculiar. It was to be the fourth kingdom 
upon earth, diverse from its predecessors in some 
evident characteristic ; it was to be very powerful 
and very rapacious; its power was to be very exten- 
sive, not to say universal ; out of it ten kingdoms 
were to spring, and afterwards, among the ten, still 
another, which should uproot three of them. Now, 
if subsequent events furnish the exact counterpart 
of all this, in the very order given, it must be ac- 
cepted by every rational man as the fulfillment of 
the prophecy. I shall proceed to a very brief inter- 
rogation of facts, and you shall have their deposition. 

First. Although there were innumerable king- 
doms anterior to the Roman, yet very few of them 
were of an extent to give them any claim to univers- 
al dominion. There were, however, a few, whose 
immense military enterprises extended their domin- 
ion until they almost completely filled the eye of 
the historian for a time. Of this class of monarch- 
ies, it can scarcely be said that more than three pre- 
ceded the Roman Empire. I have already named 
them. Of this class of governments the prophet 
would be likely to write, when following the general 
current of history, and treating of the great events 
of the world. The Roman Empire answers the de- 
scription more fully than any that had preceded it ; 
it monopolizes history for some centuries. And of 
these overgrown, world-commanding monarchies, 
the Roman was the *' fourth on earth." 

Secondly. It was " diverse " from the others. I 



Errors of the Papacy. 447 

might enumerate many particulars in which this em- 
pire was unHke the other three. As a monarchy, it 
was unUke them in this : that it was not hereditary. 
This is so rare a fact in monarchical governments as 
to attract prophetic notice, and this alone, if there 
were no other peculiarity marking its character, 
would sufficiently account for this second specifica- 
tion. 

Thirdly. The Roman Empire extended its con- 
quests until it might be said, by a very temperate 
hyperbole, to have devoured the whole earth. It 
occupied nearly the whole territory that had been 
possessed by the others, and added an empire be- 
sides. Rome was the pivot on which those vast 
military operations hinged, that swept the earth. 
Province after province, kingdom after kingdom, was 
invaded and subjugated, or, so to speak, " devoured,'' 
until the world had been completely foraged. An 
ordinary kingdom was but a mouthful for this rapa- 
cious monster. He ** was dreadful, and terrible, and 
strong exceedingly." 

Fourthly. Ten kingdoms did actually spring from 
the Roman Empire upon its downfall. This is a 
most remarkable fact, and one so specific and arbi- 
trary that it cannot be assigned to the chapter of 
incidental coincidences. 

Fifthly. Among these ten kingdoms there did 
arise another, before which three fell. In the lan- 
guage of Gault, " By the fall of three of these king- 
doms, the Herulo-Thuringic, the Ostrogothic, and 
the Lombardic, temporal power was bestowed upon 
the Papacy." Thus the most palpable history re- 
veals to us one fact after another, in perfect corre- 



448 Lecture XVIII. 

spondence with the prophet's marvelous vision, un- 
til the Papacy steps right into the place of the little 
horn. No man can avert the conclusion. The 
prophecy is God's history, written beforehand, and 
the little horn springing up amidst the ten, and dis- 
placing three, is the temporal sovereignty of the Pope. 
But to rivet the conclusion, and provide against 
the most captious caviling, a further particular de- 
scription of the little horn itself is given. Now, if, 
in every respect, these specifications are so many of 
the palpable characteristics of the Papal Govern- 
ment, this, taken in connection with what has been 
already presented, must stop the mouth of the last 
questioner. 

1. It was a 'Mittle horn." The Pope's claim to 
the temporal sovereignty, to begin with, was very 
small. And, in fact, the Papal sovereignty has never 
been any great thing. Some of the Popes have, in- 
deed, played a splendid game on the European 
chess-board, but it was by the assertion of spiritual 
authority over the affairs of other sovereigns. But 
his own dominions have never taken any high rank 
amongst the powers of the world. 

2. As the fourth beast was diverse from the for- 
mer three, so the little horn was diverse from the pre- 
ceding ten. (Verse 24.) We have not far to go to 
find this diversity. It is the leading characteristic 
of this new kingdom. I need scarcely say that it is 
the spiritual basis of its claims. This forms a strik- 
ing and radical difference between it and the ten. 
The three fell before it, by means of its ecclesiastic- 
al character. By its spiritual prestige it acquired 
temporal sovereignty. 



Errors of the Papacy. 449 

3. " In this horn were eyes like the eyes of man." 
(Verses 8, 20.) This symbol is easily interpreted. 
Eyes are expressive of intelligence. The Pope has 
always been a careful observer of what is going on 
in the world, and ready to take advantage of it. 
His eyes are open in every direction. There never 
was a sovereign with the same means of correct in- 
formation of the state of the world that he has. 
His regular and sworn police, the bishops, are in 
every country of the civilized Avorld, and he is in 
constant, confidential communication with them. 
What an advantage this gives him in diplomacy ! 
And, by the way, Papal diplomacy is, by itself, a 
study. If I had time, I would like to give you some 
specimens. Read Roscoe's Leo X, and Ranke's 
History of the Popes. More adroit or unscrupulous 
negotiators never pulled a wire. 

4. He had " a mouth that spake very great 
things." (Vs. 8, 20.) *' And he shall speak great 
words against the Most High. (Verse 25.) For 
this characteristic of the Papacy I refer you to 
my last lecture. There is nothing else that meets 
the description with any thing like the same full- 
ness. 

5. '' His look was more stout than his fellows." 
(Ver. 20.) His spiritual pretentions gave him a 
feeling of self-consciousness and superiority which 
gave him a very stout look. The Popes sat for that 
picture, certain. They asserted precedence over all 
monarchs. Kings kissed their feet, and, on occa- 
sions of ceremony, they took precedence of the first 
monarchs. Emperors led their palfreys in proces- 
sions. In all negotiations they assumed a superior 



450 Lecture XVIII. 

air, and, in virtue of their spiritual authority, rather 
directed than proposed. The vicarship was upper- 
most in their political as well as their spiritual pre- 
tentions. This was inevitable, inasmuch as spiritual 
obligations pervade every department of life. The 
anomalous position of the Popes rendered the ful- 
fillment of this prophecy in them, in this particular, 
inevitable. The tell-tale '' look " betrays the '' little 
horn." History portrays them with this stout as- 
pect, from early medieval times on down to our own 
day. Even Pio Nono puts on airs in the midst of 
his calamities. 

6. " And I beheld, and the same horn made war 
with the saints, and prevailed against them." (Ver. 
21.) He '' shall wear out the saints of the Most 
High." (Ver. 25.) The wars which were directed 
or instigated by the Popes against the Waldenses, 
Hussites, and others, are matter of public history, 
known to the world. By this means, and by means 
of the Inquisition, they were " worn out." The 
Reformation of the sixteenth century at one time 
bid fair to gain a permanent and extensive footing 
in France and Spain, and even in Italy. But the 
Inquisition was reorganized by the Pope in 1542, at 
the suggestion of two distinguished Dominicans, 
seconded by a memorial from Ignatius Loyola, the 
founder of the order of Jesuits. The avowed object 
was to *' suppress and uproot the errors that have 
found place in the Christian community, and per- 
mit no vestige of them to remain y 

The gloomy and stern Caraffa, at the head of the 
reorganized Inquisition, put forward these rules for 
its government : 



Errors of the Papacy. 451 

** First. When the faith is in question there must be no de- 
lay ; but at the slightest suspicion rigorous measures must be 
resorted to with all speed. 

"Secondly. No consideration to be shown to any prince or 
prelate, however high his station. 

" Thirdly. Extreme severity is rather to be exercised against 
those w^ho attempt to shield themselves under the protectioft 
of any potentate : only he who makes plenary confession shall 
be treated with gentleness and fatherly compassion. 

" Fourthly. No 7nan must debase himself by showing TOL- 
ERATION towards heretics of any kind ; above all, towards Cal- 
vi7tists." (Ranke's History of the Popes, vol. i, p. 159.) 

And yet they sometimes tell us in this country 
that the Inquisition is not an ecclesiastical tribunal. 
This is presuming upon our ignorance rather too 
largely. 

By such means as this, and the massacre of St. 
Bartholomew's day, were the saints of the Most 
High worn out in those countries. Thus has the 
Papacy '' made war with the saints, and prevailed 
against them." 

7. The kingdom represented by the little horn, 
the prophet tells us, '' shall think to change times 
and laws." (Ver. 25.) See the fulfillment of this 
in the traditions that '' make void the law." See it, 
also, in the facts brought to Hght in the letter of the 
eight prelates to Pope Paul III., some extracts of 
which I gave a week ago. The Papacy has, indeed, 
thought to change laws, and times too ; for, under 
the Papacy, the sanctity of the " Sabbaths of the 
Lord " recedes before the superior importance of 
its own holy days. 

Now, I submit that all these prophetic specifica- 
tions meet in the politico-ecclesiastical character and 
29 



452 Lecture XVIII. 

history of the Papacy, and in nothing else. Here is 
the sovereignty springing up amidst the ten which 
were constructed from the fragments of the Roman 
Empire, and taking the place of three of them. 
Here is the kingdom that is diverse in its essential 
character from the other kingdoms. Here is the 
** little horn," with intelligence and watchfulness ex- 
pressed by the '* eyes like the eyes of man," a mouth 
speaking " very great things," and a '^ look more 
stout than his fellows " — making *^ war with the 
saints, and prevailing against them ; wearing out the 
saints of the Most High," and '' thinking to change 
times and laws." 

One can scarcely read this entire chapter without 
feeling that the whole prophecy looks to this final 
object. The little horn is the most conspicuous 
figure in the entire group of beasts and horns. The 
others all pass before the eye of the seer to make 
way for this. The succession of the kingdoms is 
but an impressive introduction of this last one — the 
one essential to the prophet's object. At this point 
the vision lingers before his eye for delineation. 
The specific facts connected with the little horn so- 
licit notice, and take their places, one by one, upon 
the inspired page, undying beacons for the coming 
ages. If the fourth beast attracts some special at- 
tention, it is but to furnish means of identifying 
this horn. And it is identified. Its origin, from the 
fourth beast, in the peculiar location assigned it, 
together with the clear description of itself, can leave 
no doubt. The prophetic finger is on the Papacy. 

Let us recur, now, to our two questions : First, 
is the Papacy the subject of this prophecy? and, 



Errors of the Papacy. 453 

secondly, if so, in what character is it presented ? 
As to the first, I have said enough already. And 
for the second, it, too, is answered in what has been 
said. 

Solemn prophet of the captivity ! Well was thy 
spirit grieved in the midst of thy body. Amid the 
woes of thy fallen people there was yet a deeper 
*^ trouble " for thee in these '' visions of thy head." 
The furious and boastful '' little horn," goring the 
saints in war and wearing them out, was a terrific 
spectacle. Full well did thy " countenance change " 
when such " cogitations troubled " thee ! But when 
thy troubled spirit had been resting, for ages, from 
its painful visions, the "' saints of the Most High " 
experienced the long agony of their fulfillment ! 

A week hence, with God's permission, I will in- 
troduce to you other, and sublimer, and yet more 
terrible scenes. The last of the apostles shall draw 
aside the curtain, and you shall hear '' the waving 
of dread wings," and witness the marshaling of ter- 
rific forces on the Apocalyptic stage. 



454 Lecture XIX. 



LECTURE XIX. 

THE ROMAN CHURCH CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF 
SYMBOLIC PROPHECY [CONTINUED.] 

OF all the prophetic Scriptures, none are more 
imposing, in both matter and style, than those 
of the Apocalypse. Perhaps the word grandeur more 
fully characterizes this book than any other single 
word that could be selected. 

It was fitting that the volume of Revelation should 
close with an account of what shotild be. Its history 
had revealed the very dawn of existence, and traced 
the footsteps of humanity, in its religious develop- 
ment, down to the cross, and the establishment of the 
Christian Church. Already many of the prophecies 
of the Old Testament had found their echo in historic 
records, while others awaited a more tardy fulfillment. 
It remained for an apostle's pen to draft a yet more 
perfect programme of the grand drama of life to its 
dejioueinent in the dread awards of the Final Day. 

The sublime progress of the ages is sketched in 
the Apocalypse. History is anticipated. Not uni- 
versal history, but only that which bears upon the re- 
ligious interests of mankind. How humanity should 
stand related to God and his government, how the 
great work of Christ should appear in its develop- 
ments — these were the subjects of absorbing interest 
with the apostle. 



Errors of the Papacy. 455 

The great facts involved in this development were 
exhibited to his eye in a succession of gorgeous scenic 
representations. These representations were sym- 
bolical. The panorama of the future passed before 
him. Things that were to be were put into express- 
ive forms, and marshaled in gorgeous procession. 
The great white throne and Him that sat thereon, 
the city that had twelve foundations and high walls 
all resplendent with pearls of richest hue, the temple 
not built with hands, the sea of glass, and the pave- 
ment of gold, are mapped distinctly to the eye. 
Lightnings leap from their dark hiding-places, and 
thunders utter their hoarse clamor. Earthquakes 
play with the deep foundations of the world. Many 
waters contribute their confused uproar to the grand- 
eur of the display. Multitudes that no man can 
number " crowd the area." Celestial shouts go up to 
God. Mighty angels fly. All this, and as much 
more, is not a tithe of the grandeur which makes up 
the God-like exhibition. 

The book is not a continuous development of the 
successive facts of history, one after another, to the 
end. The world's history is too complex to have 
been so represented. Distinct visions sometimes 
cover the same ground chronologically, presenting 
facts in their various phases and aspects. It is not 
my object to give a general synopsis of the book, but 
to fix your attention upon some of those portions of 
it which evidently bear upon the object which I have 
in view. That object, as I stated it a week ago, is, 
first, to ascertain if the Roman Church be, indeed, 
pointed out in prophecy ; and, secondly, if so, to ob- 



45^ Lecture XIX. 

serve the character which the prophetic Scriptures 
give her. I shall make no effort to determine dates. 
The great point is to understand God's testimony in 
reference to that Church which makes such heavy 
demands upon our faith and submission. And we 
shall see here, as we have already seen elsewhere in 
so many cases, the divine index distinguishing her 
as a mark of uncommon reprobation. 

I have selected three of the apostle's visions as 
containing the clearest identification of the Roman 
Church, and as characterizing her in the most certain 
manner. They are contained in chapters xii, xiii, 
and xvii. You will be impressed with their resem- 
blance to the vision of Daniel, an exposition of which 
I have so recently given, especially of his fourth 
beast. 

It may be that some of the hypotheses which I 
shall announce will seem arbitrary to you at first, but 
all I ask of you is to suspend judgment until I am 
done. When you have the whole case, you will be able 
to decide upon my views, as to whether they be ar- 
bitrary or natural, visionary or solid. For these 
visions are all evidently related to each other, and no 
one of them can be fully understood without refer- 
ence to the rest. This will fully appear in the course 
of the investigation. 

I. We will begin with Rev. xii, i : " There ap- 
peared a great wonder in heaven ; a woman clothed 
with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon 
her head a crown of twelve stars : and she, being 
with child, cried, travailing in birth, pained to be de- 
livered." 



Errors of the Papacy. 457 

Here is a beautiful symbol of the Church, "the 
Bride, the Lamb's wife," as she is elsewhere called, 
bringing forth a progeny to the Lord. She is " clothed 
with the sun ;" that is, with the righteousness which 
she has in Christ, who is the Sun of righteousness. 
The same writer, in another place, represents the 
Bride as being " arrayed in fine linen, clean and 
white ; for the fine linen is the righteousness of 
saints." (Rev. xix, 8.) In this resplendent attire she 
stood, with the " moon under her feet," thus exalted 
above all sublunary objects. The crown of Truth 
is upon her head, decorated with ** twelve stars," ex- 
pressive of the twelve- inspired teachers of the New 
Covenant. The Church had been represented by an 
earlier prophet as bringing forth children. (Isaiah 
Ixvi, 8.) What we are to understand by the progeny 
of the Church admits of no question. They are 
the people of God, the sons and daughters of the 
Almighty. 

" And there appeared another wonder in heaven ; 
and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads 
and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heav- 
en, and did cast them to the earth ; and the dragon 
stood before the woman which was ready to be de- 
livered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule 
all nations with a rod of iron ; and her child was 
caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the 
woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a 
place prepared of God, that they should feed her 
there a thousand, two hundred and threescore days." 



458 Lecture XIX. 

(Vs. 3-6.) The apostle tells us that the dragon is 
"that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which 
deceiveth the whole world." (Ver. 9.) Ever since the 
" woman was deceived " in the garden, by the wily 
destroyer, under the guise of a serpent, the devil has 
been known by that appellation. But in this place 
he appears in a peculiar form, and with distinctive 
marks. He is red, and has seven heads and ten horns. 
The seven heads identify him with the beast of the 
Apocalypse, as I shall presently show, and the ten 
horns identify him with the same and with Daniel's 
fourth beast, which, as you are aware, represented 
the Roman Empire, out of which the ten kingdoms 
and the Papacy arose — all of which are symbolized 
in the seventh chapter of Daniel. 

But how is it that this empire is identified with the 
dragon, which is the devil f (See Luke iv, 5, 6, and 7.) 
The devil took our Saviour " up into a high mountain, 
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a mo- 
ment of time. And the devil said unto him. All this 
power will I give thee, and the glory of them ; for that 
is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give 
it. If thou, therefore, wilt worship me, all shall be 
thine." Our Lord, with immaculate promptitude, re- 
sists the temptation, but does not deny the boast of 
the tempter. Indeed, he himself, in another place, 
calls the devil " the Prince of this world." (John xii, 
31 ; Eph. ii, 2.) And certainly the "kingdoms of 
the world " were under the control of the wicked one 
at that time. For they were all idolatrous. When 
that prince of fallen spirits set himself to oppose and 
dishonor God, he well knew that it might be most 



Errors of the Papacy. 459 

-effectually accomplished by seducing men to idolatry. 
This was " giving the glory of God to another." It 
was a direct thrust at the Divine Sovereignty. Not 
only had he led men at large into the worship of idols, 
but he had secured the influence and patronage of 
every throne in the world to this species of devotion. 
And, as for the Roman Empire, it had naturalized all 
the idolatries of the world, and admitted every idol 
to citizenship with the denizens of its own Olympus. 
It is not, then, an arbitrary supposition to say that, 
in respect of religion, the devil held possession of the 
Roman Empire. And, as subsequent developments 
will show, the great red dragon is here a symbol of 
the idolatrous Roman Empire. 

He stands ready, with distended jaws, to devour 
the offspring of the Church. But that offspring is 
taken under the special protection of God and of his 
Throne. Many individuals were, indeed, slain in the 
course of the ten Pagan persecutions. But "the 
blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church." 
Every drop of martyr blood that stained the earth 
bred a score of Christians. The offspring of the 
Church was strangely preserved, and there was not 
power enough in the Roman Empire to crush it. 
Strange energy that could survive such shocks ! A 
Throne above that of the Caesars assumed its guard- 
ianship. 

But, in a conflict with heavenly powers, the dragon 
is cast down to the earth. (Vs. 7, 9.) His angels 
fall with him. That is, the devil, the great propa- 
gator of idolatry, is cast from the exalted throne of 
the Caesars, and compelled to grovel in an humbler 



4^0 Lecture XIX. 

sphere in the promotion of his object. The fulfill- 
ment is seen in the conversion of Constantine, and 
the withdrawal of imperial patronage from idolatry to 
the worship of the true God. In this defeat the 
dragon became exceedingly furious against the wom- 
an, attacked her with deadly malignity, and drove 
her into the wilderness, whither she fied for safety, 
and where she was nourished for a certain period. 
By such insidious influences as long practice had 
made him master of he corrupted the minds of the 
Roman clergy, gradually insinuated the use of images 
into the Christian worship, (for the promotion of 
idolatry is ever his grand scheme,) obtained its in- 
dorsement by a general council of the Church, and 
ascended the Papal, as he had done the Pagan, throne. 
Then the Church, consisting of the true worshipers 
of God, fled to the wilderness from fresh persecu- 
tions. They betook themselves to mountain fast- 
nesses and remote localities. But in his rage the 
dragon cast floods of water after the woman, " that 
he might cause her to be carried away of the flood." 
(V. 15.) Waters, as I shall have occasion to show 
hereafter, represent peoples ; and in this place, 
doubtless, the flood is a symbol of the military opera- 
tions of which I spoke last Sunday evening. Armed 
hosts were poured out, by Roman authority, against 
the Church, scattered and peeled as it was. And for 
a long time the floods prevailed, but the woman was 
not quite " carried away ; " and at last '* the earth 
helped her, and the earth opened her mouth and 
swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of 
his m^uth." (V. 16.) The authority of Rome waned 



Errors of the Papacy. 461 

during the fifteenth century, and armies were not 
evoked by her word, as they had formerly been. 
Secular princes fought their own battles, maintained 
their own wars. " The earth swallowed up the flood ; " 
or, in other words, earthly or political interests occu- 
pied the armies of Europe. The Reformation con- 
summated this tendency, and the world now has an 
understanding that spiritual battles are to be fought 
with other weapons than the sword of the temporal 
princes. But still " the dragon is wroth with the 
woman, and goes to make war with the remnant of 
her seed, which keep the commmidments of Gody a7id 
have the testimony of Jesus !^ (V. 17.) The com- 
mandments of God and the testimony of Jesus bear 
swift and fearful witness against all idolatrous tradi- 
tionSy and the dragon, keeping to his great purpose 
of enthroning idolatry with unflinching pertinacity, 
continues to make war, with such weapons as are 
left him, against the faithful seed of the woman, who 
bear the testimony of Jesus against him. Where he 
can pursue them with legal disabilities and vexations, 
he never fails to do so ; and where he has no political 
power, he can yet cu7'se. Where he finds any that 
will not bow down to his images, he rouses himself 
with imposing energy, and, in regretful recollection 
of the day when it was in his power to drink the 
blood of all such, is forced to content himself with 
glaring furiously upon them, and vociferating : " Let 
them be accursed." 

The dragon was red. This color characterizes the 
official robes of both Pagan and Papal Rome. His 
seven heads (as will hereafter appear) identify him 



*< 



462 Lecture XIX. 

with Pagan Rome in its various successive forms of 
government. And the ten horns identify him with 
the Rome of the Popes, when the ten Western King- 
doms sprang from the fragments of the fallen Em- 
pire. And what has been already said will be suffi- 
cient to show what " part and lot '* the Papacy has 
in him. 

Many points I am compelled to pass over for want 
of time, and many others are given too briefly, per- 
haps, to make their full impression upon the mind. 
But I shall keep a steady eye upon my chief object, 
which is to identify the fulfillment of these prophecies. 
We will now pass to the next vision. 

II. In chapter xiii we have the vision of the two 
beasts. The prophet stood upon the sea-shore, when 
he saw the first one rise out of the sea. He, too, 
had the seven heads and the ten horns. These marks 
lead us to Rome again. Let us suppose that the 
seven heads represent the different forms of govern- 
ment through which Roman history is traced. Each 
horn in this vision wears a crown, plainly indicating 
the ten kingdoms of which I have already spoken. 
Let us suppose, further, that this beast represents the 
idolatrous Roman Government in the various phases 
of its existence. " The dragon gave him bis power, 
and his seat, and great authority." The dragon is 
defined to be the devil, in the preceding chapter ; 
and, from the facts already elicited, we see that his 
constant object, that for which he most assiduously 
labors, that which is the great ambition of his exist- 
ence, is to establish idolatry in the world. And we 
may well believe that he would regard it as his high- 



Errors of the Papacy. 463 

est achievement so to corrupt the Christian worship 
as to render even it an idolatry. 

Suddenly the beast receives a deadly sword-thrust 
in one of his heads. It was, "as it were, wounded 
to death." But, strange to tell, the fatal wound was 
healed, and he still lived. Now, upon the supposi- 
tion that the beast symbolizes the idolatrous Roman 
Government, and the seven heads th^ forms through 
which that government passed, where shall we find 
this fatal wound } Nothing can be plainer. One of 
the heads is, of course, the imperial form of govern- 
ment ; and in that head the beast, the idolatrous 
power, received a deadly wound when Constantine 
was converted, and all the power and patronage of 
the empire were turned against idolatry. The stroke 
was heavy, and well directed. Pagan magistrates 
were deposed, and Christians put into their places, 
throughout the vast empire. Paganism was no long- 
er upheld by the civil arm. Christianity, with its 
pure worship, was triumphant. The Pagan power 
la}' prostrate. It was, or at least seemed to be, dead. 
But, behold, after a time, and every Christian temple 
is filled with idols, and a heathen of the third cen- 
tury, could he have been called from the grave and 
entered a church, would have found himself at home. 
In a short time he would have mastered the new re- 
ligious nomenclature, and after that the worship 
would have been natural to him. He would have 
missed Jupiter, but there was the Jew Peter. He 
would have missed Minerva, but there was Mary, an- 
other Queen of Heaven. He would have been soon 
at his ease. And the invocation of saints, and ven- 



464 Lecture XIX. 

eralion of their images, were supported b}^ the ten 
horns, or kings, and by the Pope, who divided be- 
tween them the authority of the empire. The deadly 
wound was healed — the idolatrous power lived again. 

It must be remembered that at this period the Pa- 
pacy shared in the temporal power with the ten king- 
doms, and, together with them, is symbolized as the 
beast, after his wound was healed. The beast came 
to be admired greatly, and the dragon, who had giv- 
en him his power, Vv^as very highly honored in the 
admiration received by his creature, the beast. And 
at this period of the existence of the beast, (after his 
wound was healed,) " there was given unto him a 
mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies ; and 
power was given unto him to continue forty-two 
months." (V. 5.) If ever any power did *' speak 
great things and blasphemies," it has been the Papa- 
cy. For facts in point I refer you to severrJ of my 
previous lectures. The " name of blasphemy," spoken 
of in the first verse, is found in the titles assumed by 
the Popes, or given to them. 

" And it was given unto him to make war with the 
saints, and to overcome them ; and power was given 
him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, 
whose names are not written in the book of life of 
the Lamb, from the foundation of the world." (Vs. 
7, 8.) I need scarcely remark upon this passage. 
The widely extended dominion of the Papal authority 
before the Reformation, and the homage paid it, are 
expressed here in no stronger hyperbole than we oft- 
en find in the Scriptures. And this extended domin- 



Errors of the Papacy. 465 

ion, which is her boast, is one of the plainest and 
most unmistakable facts which concentrate upon her 
the meaning of this prophecy. 

The first beast described by John, a symbol of the 
idolatrous Roman government, embraces, in the later 
periods, the Papacy as a civil power. But this as- 
pect of its existence is inseparable from its spiritual 
claims, and, indeed, but incident to them. In fact, 
the most striking of its characteristics, which mark 
it as the counterpart of the prophetic description, are 
the outgrowth of its spiritual assumptions. 

But the vision changes, and assumes a form which 
clearly refers to the Roman power, ifi its ecclesiastical 
or spiritual character. The apostle sees another 
beast coming up out of the earth, having two horns 
like a lamb. (V. 11.) This lamb-like aspect indi- 
cates the religious character of the object here in- 
tended. And Gault says that Benezra, himself a 
Jesuit, interprets this of the Romish priesthood. If 
there were any doubt on this subject, the last half of 
the sentence, which I have given in part, would re- 
move it. " He had two horns like a lamb, and he 
spake as a dragon!' When he meekly calls himself 
" servant of the servants of God " he is sufficiently 
lamb-like. But when, with blood-shot eye and angry 
voice, he mutters maledictions, both loud and deep, 
against those who have kept the testimony of Jesus, 
and invokes the sword of the temporal prince for 
their extermination, " he speaks like a dragon," as 
he is. " He exerciseth all the power of the first 
beast which was before him." (V. 12.) There is no 
prerogative of government which he has not assumed 



466 Lecture XIX. 

and wielded. The legislative, judicial, executive, and 
treaty and war-making functions he has exercised, 
just as any other government. The Roman States 
are an ecclesiastico-political government. And all 
the enormous abuses of power which characterized 
the former beast this one has also perpetuated. Nor 
is it too much to say that he " causeth the earth and 
them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, 
whose deadly wound was healed." (V. 12.) He is 
the prop and chief support of those tyrannical gov- 
ernments which countenance and enforce his preten- 
tions. For the first beast was not displaced by this 
second one. He still drags out his existence in those 
monarchies where the laws and administration main- 
tain the old idolatry. Toward those governments 
the Papacy enjoins all the veneration imaginable. 

Now, what follows in three verses is a most re- 
markable description of the Ecclesia Docens, the 
priesthood of Rome. Mark it well : — 

" And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come 
down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and de- 
ceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those 
miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast ; 
saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make 
an image to the beast, which had a wound by a sword, and did 
live. And he had power to give life to the image of the beast ; 
that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that 
as many as would not worship the image of the beast should 
be killed." (Vs. 13, 14, 15.) 

"Now, miracles, visions, and revelations are the 
mighty boast of the Church of Rome ; the contriv- 
ances of an artful, cunning clergy to impose upon an 



Errors of the Papacy. 467 

ignorant, credulous laity. Even fire is pretended to 
come down from heaven, as in the case of St. Antho- 
ny's fire, and other instances, cited by Brightman and 
other writers on the revelation, and in solemn excom- 
munications, which are called thunders of the Church, 
and are performed with the ceremony of casting down 
burning torches from on high, as symbols and em- 
blems of fire from heaven." (Benson, Com.) I have 
had occasion heretofore to remark sufficiently upon 
the pretended miracles of the Roman priesthood. 
But what of this image to the former beast, which 
recovered of the fatal sword-thrust } (V. 14.) That 
wound was received, as you will doubtless remember, 
in the head which represented the Pagan einpire. Is 
not the Pope of Rome the very image of the Pontifex 
Maximus, combining in his own person the supreme 
civil and spiritual jurisdiction } This beast (symbol- 
izing the Ecclesia Docens) had power to give life to 
the image of the former beast ; that is, to infuse a 
vital energy into the Papal office, so that it should 
speak and cause all who should refuse to worship 
itself to be killed, or, in other words, it should find 
means to enforce its pretentions in the most effective 
and sanguinary manner. Perhaps you may say it is 
news to you that the Pope is worshiped. So it may 
be news to you, but what is that " adoration " which 
the new Pope receives when he enters upon his dig- 
nities .'' What means the humble kissing of his feet 1 
What does it amount to when he is addressed under 
the title of " Most Holy Father," as he is by all the 
"faithful.?" 

*'And he causeth all, both small and great, rich 
30 



468 Lecture XIX. 

and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their 
right hand, or in their foreheads." (V. 16.) There is 
probably here an allusion to an ancient custom of 
marking or branding slaves in the hand or forehead ; 
and it is, doubtless, intended to express the complete 
subjugation of the laity to the "infallible" Ecclesia 
Docens. Nothing could be more appropriate or ex- 
pressive. By means of the claim of infallibility, the 
confessional, and other assumptions, the priesthood 
does most effectually control every thorough Roman- 
ist. "And that no man might buy or sell save he 
that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the 
number of his name." (V. 17.) Literally fulfilled. 
" Thus Hovedon relates that William the Conqueror 
would not permit any one in his power to buy or sell 
any thing, whom he found disobedient to the Apos- 
tolic See." So the canon of the Council of Lateran, 
under Pope Alexander the Third, made against the 
Waldenses and Albigenses, enjoins, upon pain of 
anathema, that " no one presume to entertain or 
cherish them in his house or land, or exercise traffic 
with them!' The Synod of Tours, in France, under 
the same Pope, ordered, under the like intermination, 
that " no man should presume to receive or assist 
them ; no, not so much as to hold any communion 
with them in selling or buying, that, being deprived 
of the comfort of humanity, they may be compelled 
to repent of the error of their way." So did Pope 
Martin V., in his bull after the Council of Constance. 
(^Benson, Com.) 

With what astonishing minuteness this prophecy 
is fulfilled in the Roman Church ! There is no es- 



Errors of the Papacy. 469 

cape. From every point the specifications cluster in 
that center. It stands in a prophetic focus, the blaze 
of which reveals it to the most casual observation. 
And there remains one other fact in this prophecy, 
the mysterious number of the beast. 

" Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understand- 
ing count the number of the beast ; for it is the num- 
ber of a man, and his number is six hundred and 
three score and six." (V. 18.) It is a most extraor- 
dinary fact that this precise number is found in sev- 
eral of the different appellations of the Romish 
Church, in the Hebrew, the Latin and the Greek 
languages. It is found by taking the characters in 
their numerical signification. This fact, taken in 
connection with all the rest, furnishes a species of 
confirmation that is irresistible. It is a most pecul- 
iar fact, and so very arbitrary that, taken at hazard, 
its correspondence with any given word would be im- 
probable almost in the proportion of infinity to one. 
After having traced the fulfillment of this prophecy in 
the Romish Church throughout, and found it exact, 
and then ascertained the number here given in the very 
namey blindness itself must see the fact. This second 
beast is the Romish Ecclesia Docens. A single fact 
of the character of this one respecting the number 
would, by itself, be sufficient to identify to many minds 
the object of the prophecy. But when you come to add 
one fact after another, and one prophecy after another, 
and find them all fulfilled in a given organization, 
and then, further, consider that the prophecy gives all 
the leading characteristic facts of the organization, 
your are compelled to admit that you have found the 



4/0 Lecture XIX. 

very object which the Spirit of inspiration had in 
view. That this is all true in the application of this 
prophecy to the Roman Church no man can deny. 

III. In chapter xvii we have yet another vision, 
presenting the Roman hierarchy in other aspects. 
An angel approached the apostle, saying, " I will 
show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that 
sitteth upon many waters ; with whom the kings of 
the earth have committed fornication, and the inhab- 
itants of the earth have been made drunk with the 
wine of her fornication." Having made this startling 
announcement, the angel carried him, in spirit, into 
the wilderness, where the vision was introduced, 
which he describes in the following language : " I 
saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of 
names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten 
horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and 
scarlet color, and decked with gold, and precious stones 
and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of 
abominations and filth of her fornication : and upon 
her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon 
THE Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abomi- 
nations OF THE Earth." (Vs. 3, 4, 5.) " And I saw 
the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and 
with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus : and when I 
saw her, I wondered with great admiration." (V. 6.) 
The angel, observing his astonishment at the marvel- 
ous sight which he is beholding, proposes to explain 
to him " the mystery of the woman, and of the beast 
that carrieth her, which hath seven heads and ten 
horns." (V. 8.) Let us consider this explanation with 
great care, remembering at the outset that we have 



Errors of the Papacy. 471 

here the identical seven heads and ten horns of the 
dragon and of the former beast, and also that the ten 
horns are a feature of Daniel's /J^/^r//^ beast. These 
marks, as I shall show more fully from the angel's 
explanation, localize the prophecy at Rome, and iden- 
tify it with the idolatrous Roman Government. Keep- 
ing these facts in mind, let us hear the angel : 

" The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ; and 
shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into 
perdition ; and they that dwell on the earth shall 
wonder, (whose names were not written in the book 
of life from the foundation of the world,) when the}'' 
behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." 
(V. 8.) Remember the deadly wound of the beast in 
the former vision. This is the very same beast. 
" He was," before he received the fatal wound, " and 
is not," when he falls by the sword-thrust ; " and yet 
is," when the deadly wound is healed. It is the idol- 
atrous Roman Government, under pagan form.s be- 
fore Constantine, disappearing at the time of his con- 
version, and reappearing under Christian forms and 
Papal authority, at the introduction of image-wor- 
ship. This singular prophecy, perfectly met in so 
strange a fact, is conclusive. Or take this view of it, 
presenting the same facts in another attitude, and 
equally applicable to the case. The beast was, in 
the form of the pagan Roman Government ; that 
government is noty and the beast is not, in that form, 
ajtd yet is, in his essential nature, as an idolatrous 
civil power, in the Papacy and other kingdoms which 
sprang out of the fragments of the Roman Empire, 
and are symbolized by the horns, and support the 



472 Lecture XIX. 

idolatrous worship of the Papacy. This is the beast 
on which the woman sits, the civil authority which 
has been a main support of the Romish religion. 

The angel then proceeds to explain the meaning of 
the seve7i heads, to which he gives a double significa- 
tion. 

First. "The seven heads are seven mountains, on 
which the woman sitteth." (V. 19.) The city of the 
seven hills needs no identification. It is well known 
to the world. And yet the apostle has added to the 
certainty, if that were possible, in the i8th verse. 
" The woman which thou sawest is that great city, 
which reigneth over the kings of the earth." No 
schoolboy needs to be told that this is Rome. 

Secondly. Still in explanation of the seven heads, 
he says, " There are seven kings : five are fallen, and 
one is, and the other is not yet come ; and when he 
cometh he must continue a short space." (V. 10.) 
As I showed you in my last lecture, Daniel explains 
to us that, in prophetic language, the term " kings " 
is sometimes used to denote kingdoms or govern- 
ments. Now, bear in mind that the Roman civil 
government is symbolized by the beast, and you have 
no difficulty in understanding this language. For 
Rome did pass through vdiXiows, forms of government. 
'' Five are fallen," says the angel. Before the Apoc- 
alypse was written there had been the kings, the 
consuls, the decemvirs, the tribunes, and the dicta- 
tors, all distinct forms of government, and they had 
successively fallen. " One is," at the time of writing. 
That one is the imperial government, then flourishing. 
That was the sixth. " And the other is not yet come ; 



Errors of the Papacy. 473 

and when he cometh he must continue a short space." 
Now, let us suppose that the sevejith refers to the 
change of the government under Constantine. For 
although its civil form was not changed, yet it ceased 
to be Pagan, and to the eye of the prophet might 
well seem a new government. This continued but a 
short space. The seat of empire was soon removed 
from the banks of the Tiber to those of the Bos- 
phorus ; and it was not long until the West was all 
in agitation, and its government unsettled by the in- 
cursions of the barbarians. 

But at this point a singular complication arises. 
There is, in this series, an eighth, and yet not an 
eighth, for there are only seven. " And the beast 
that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of 
the seven, and goeth into perdition." (V. 2.) This is 
the beast on which the woman was sitting. It is the 
beast as " he is," after it had been said " he is not ; " 
or, in other words, after the deadly wound had been 
healed. In short, it is the beast as he appears in 
Papal times. This is " of the seven," homogeneous 
with the first six, and so, properly entitled to the 
place of the seventh. For, considered in the light of 
idolatrous powers, which, as I have shown from the 
first, the beasts symbolize, the Christian empire un- 
der Constantine must be counted out of the series ; 
and the Papal power, under which the Christian wor- 
ship has degenerated into idolatry, takes its place, 
and is in every just view of the seven ; though, view- 
ing the history of the Empire from another stand- 
point, and counting the Christian Empire for one, it 
is the eighth. Such a singular prophecy, met by 



474 Lecture XIX. 

such a singular state of facts, exactly answering to it, 
in subsequent history, can leave no room for mistake. 
The beast on which the woman sat was the civil 
power that succeeded the Roman Empire. That 
civil power was partly in the Popes themselves, and 
partly in kings devoted to them. For the Popes be- 
came secular princes themselves, and also claimed, 
and at one time exercised, immense authority over 
other States. Thus is the paradox of the eighth, 
who is of the seventh, easily explained. 

The angel goes on to explain that the ten horns of 
the beast are ten kings, " who have received no pow- 
er as yet ; " that is, when he wrote. They were to 
receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 
(V. 12.) This brings us back to the ten kingdoms 
introduced into the two former visions of John, and 
in connection with the fourth beast of Daniel. 
"These have one mind, and shall give their power 
and strength unto the beast." (V. 13.) They shall 
give the strength of their governments with one ac- 
cord to the support of the new idolatry — the image 
worship of Rome. And they shall make war with 
the Lamb, in which they shall be ultimately over- 
come. (V. 14.) In the support of an idolatrous 
worship they make war on the pure doctrine of 
Christ, which is, indeed, making war upon himself. 

The woman was at first described sitting " upon 
many waters." (V. i.) The angel proceeds to ex- 
plain this. '*' The waters which thou sawest, where 
the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and 
nations, and tongues." (V. 15.) These are the vast 
numbers of adherents pf which Rome boasts so 



Errors of the Papacy. 475 

proudly. With the aid of the dragon she has " de- 
ceived the nations." And now, having seduced the 
nations, she glories in her shame, parading every- 
where this mark of her infamy, which the Apocalyp- 
tic angel has branded upon her for the warning of 
the ages. Under the tuition of the dragon, whose 
profession is to deceive, she has become adept in the 
art of seduction. 

But how about the ten horns turning against the 
whore and destroying her.!* (V. 16.) Doubtless God 
will in the end make use of the civil authority, upon 
which she has so long leaned, to " make her deso- 
late." And the " beginning of the end " is already. 
A portion of the European kingdoms have been with- 
drawn from her support. Even France is now vex- 
ing her. Her troubles are increasing. But I say 
not the " time of the end " is yet. These are proba- 
bly but the prelude of the tragedy when they shall 
" eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." " For God 
hath put it into their hearts to fulfill his will, and 
give their kingdom unto the beast, until the woj'ds of 
God shall be fttlfilled!' (V. 17.) When these proph- 
ecies shall have been fulfilled, and not before, they 
will turn upon the harlot and execute terrible ven- 
geance upon her. 

Surely enough has been said to identify the facts 
symbolized in this vision. The Church of Rome is 
the "great whore." There is no avoiding the con- 
viction. Start out in what direction you may, these 
prophecies bring you back to Rome. Even Roman- 
ists themselves agree that Rome is the seat of these 
prophecies. With all their ingenuity they are not 



4/3 Lecture XIX. 

able to deny that. It is too plain. Rome is *' that 
great city which reigneth over the kings of the 
earth ; " there are the '' seven mountains on which 
the woman sitteth ; " there is the head-quarters of 
the beast. There is no gainsaying of all this. They 
do, indeed, deny that it refers to the Church of Rome. 
To admit this would be suicide. They are obliged to 
deny it. But it is of no avail. The facts which 
identify the Ecclesia Docens are as numerous and 
overwhelming as those which identify the city where 
her seat is. To make this still more apparent, hav- 
ing examined the angel's explanation of the vision, 
let us retrospect the vision itself. Here we shall see 
a yet closer identification of the woman, and as to 
her character, I need not say a word — it speaks its 
own infamy. 

First. The name given her — " the great whore." 

(V. I.) 

In order fully to appreciate this designation of the 
woman, you must know that God has represented the 
Church in the endearing relation of a bride, to him- 
self, both in the Old and New Testaments. The 
Jewish Church God represents as being espoused to 
him. The duty imposed by her vows is absolute 
reverence and entire devotion. In this view, idolatry 
is, throughout the Old Testament, called whoredom, 
and the departure of the Church from God to idols is 
illustrated by the infidelity of a wife toward her hus- 
band. (See the twenty-third chapter of Ezekiel 
throughout, and many other places.) The Church is 
represented in the same endearing relation to Christ 
in the New Testament. (Rev. xix, /.; 



Errors of the Papacy. 477 

There is no other act which is so directly a breach 
of our vows to God as idolatry. It is "giving his 
glory to another." It is a direct act of infidelity in 
a Church. It is the whoredom of the Church. One 
of the prophets, in alluding to the number of idols 
which the Jews had worshiped, makes God complain 
that Judah had ''played the harlot with many lovers." 

Now, in view of these facts, where shall we find 
"the great whore" of the Christian dispensation.'' 
Evidently in the relapsing of the Church into idolatry. 
Rome has so relapsed, and seduced a large part of 
the Christian world to the participation of her lewd- 
ness. Her images are set up in almost every land, 
and her invocation of saints is heard in the four quar- 
ters of the earth. She, too, plays the harlot with 
many lovers. And her power to seduce men into 
her snare is the greater because she clothes even her 
idolatry in a Christian guise, and solicits the unwary 
upon pious pretexts. 

Secondly. She has led even the kings of the earth 
into fornication with her. (V. 2.) *' And the inhab- 
itants of the earth have been made drunk with the 
wine of her fornication." What devotees to her 
many kings have been, and how they have shared in 
her idolatry, is well known. And how the inhabit- 
ants of the earth have been, and multitudes now are, 
perfectly intoxicated with her corrupt worship, needs 
not to be told. The whole display strikes the imag- 
ination, and impresses the senses. A perfect infatua- 
tion often controls the minds of the Romanist laity. 
They "have been made drunk." 
• Thirdly. This meretricious woman, like others of 



478 Lecture XIX. 

her class, is excessively given to personal display. 
She was " arrayed in purple and scarlet-color, and 
decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls." 
A pure woman needs no such adventitious aid for 
the augmentation of her attractions. The pure value 
of her unsullied nature will be sufficient for all inno- 
cent purposes. And so to the bride it was " granted 
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and 
white." What a contrast between this beautiful sim- 
plicity and the ostentatious dress of the harlot ! She 
who wants the innate charm of purity must resort to 
display. 

How does the ostentatious parade of the Romish 
worship contrast with the simple fervor of devotion, 
as it is described in the New Testament, and as it 
exists among evangehcal Christians ! In default of 
a pure spirituality, it must at least be taking. Men 
must be lured to the embraces of the adulteress. 

Hence the images of Mary are " decked with pre- 
cious stones and pearls." The Lady of Loretto, I 
understand, wears such a profusion of the very rich- 
est jewelry, that gold seems poor in the display. The 
Bambino at Rome carries wealth enough upon his 
little person to buy a principality, perhaps. Then 
look at the magnificence of that great Basilica, St. 
Peter's, at Rome. Outside parade every-where at- 
tracts the eye to Rome and her worship. It is the 
gaudy but worthless substitute for bridal purity. Her 
chastity is gone, and she must resort to fine clothes. 
She has forgotten the duty of a wife, and must put 
on the airs of the coquette, and assume the tawdry 
attractions of the harlot. " The king's daughter is 



Errors of the Papacy. 479 

all glorious withm^ She is all bedizened with- 
out. 

Fourthly. She had "a golden cup in her hand, full 
of abomination, and filthiness of her fornication." 
(V. 4.) Does this represent the traditions by which 
the Church of Rome enforces and perpetuates her 
corruptions ? It certainly describes them. 

Fifthly. The name written upon her forehead I 
have given in a preceding quotation. Seneca and 
Juvenal inform us that abandoned women used some- 
times to carry their names and proclaim their infamy 
in a sign upon their foreheads. The prophecy points 
out, no doubt, the unblushing parade which the 
Church of Rome makes of her idolatrous devotions. 

Sixthly. The beast on which she sat was scarlet- 
colored, and full of names of blasphemy. (V. 3.) This 
is a sanguinary hue, and answers also to the color of 
her own garments, which were " purple and scarlet- 
colored." (V. 4.) It was anciently the color of the 
imperial robes, and is now that of the vestments of 
the chief dignitaries of the Roman hierarchy. 

Seventhly. "And I saw the woman drunk with the 
blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs 
of Jesus." (V. 6.) I need add nothing here to what 
I have said of the bloody persecution of the Papacy. 
Surely the Ecclesia Docens has had blood enough to 
make her drunk. This language is not too strong. 
Her deep potations have had their effect. I have no 
desire to recall the tragic and revolting picture. 

Now, let us review, briefly, the whole ground of 
symbolical prophecy over which we have passed. It 
does seem to me that no candid mind can contem- 



48o Lecture XIX. 

plate all the facts, and entertain any doubt as to the 
fulfillment. If you object that symbols are arbitrary, 
and may be made to represent this or that object, ac- 
cording to the caprice of the interpreter, I reply that 
in the leading particulars the prophets have them- 
selves interpreted them, and in this manner given an 
unmistakable clue to the meaning of the whole. For 
instance, they tell us plainly that the beasts represent 
kingdoms, or governments, and then place their sym- 
bolical beasts in such attitudes and relations as to 
identify clearly «///zV/^ kingdoms they represent. With 
this clue we thread the labyrinth without difficulty, 
and tread firmly at every step. And as one fact of 
history after another, in the process of investigation, 
betrays a perfect correspondence with the symbol, 
we become more and more assured of the truth, until 
such is the number of facts that we are compelled to 
discard forever the suspicion of accidental, casual cor- 
respondence. Uniform correlation of facts through 
an extended series can never characterize casualty. 
And when you add to the fact of number that of 
systematic grouping, you "make assurance doubly 
sure." 

Now, here are a group of symbols given by Daniel, 
and three others by John, their signification in lead- 
ing particulars stated by themselves, and the group- 
ing so arranged that there can be no mistake of lo- 
cality. Rome is the place. Here we have solid 
footing. At this point no one challenges our posi- 
tion. Romanists themselves agree with us so far. 

Then, with Rome for the locality, and the signifi- 
cation of the symbols given in leading particulars, we 



Errors of the Papacy. 481 

follow them from one to the other as they are related 
to each other, until we find the persecuting politico- 
ecclesiastical authority of Rome. Once upon this 
prophetic highway, we are obliged to go to that point, 
if we keep going at all. It is a perfect Appian way, 
paved and prepared for our feet to the very Vatican. 
Not a stone of its pavement is out of place. And 
whoever shall follow it to-day to its terminus, must 
see the harlot sitting on the seven mountains, arrayed 
in scarlet-color, and bedizened with trinkets — the 
fallen and corrupted wife, disowned and abandoned 
to her adulteries, and drunk with the blood of saints. 
He shall see the nations of the earth yielding to her 
lascivious wiles, and kings partaking of the cup of 
abomination which she holds in her hand. And in 
the bold and boastful display of her idolatry, he shall 
see that she is wholly abandoned and shameless, and 
read the proclamation of her infamy upon her very 
forehead ! 

But he shall also see judgment, that can sleep no 
longer, darkening above her pathway. 

My next lecture shall be upon the Doom of the 
Papacy. 



482 Lecture XX. 



LECTURE XX. 

THE DOOM OF THE PAPACY. 

"And a mighty angel took up a stone, like a great mill-stone, and 
cast it into the sea, saying : Thus with violence shall that great city, 
Babylon, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And 
the voices of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters, 
shall be heard no more at all in thee ; and no craftsman, of whatso- 
ever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee ; and the sound 
of a mill-stone shall be heard no more at all in thee ; and the light 
of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee ; and the voice of the 
bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee ; for 
thy merchants were the great men of the earth ; for by thy sorceries 
were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of proph- 
ets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." — Rev. 
xviii, 21, 24. 

IN two successive lectures I have investigated 
briefly the symbolical prophecies concerning 
the Papacy, or, more properly, a portion of them ; 
for I have only selected the more striking portions. 
The last of those which I presented is the descrip- 
tion of the mystical Babylon, in the seventeenth 
chapter of Revelation. This graphic and revolting 
description is immediately succeeded by the account 
of her downfall, in the eighteenth chapter. " And 
after those things," says the apostle, "I saw another 
angel come down from heaven, having great power, 
and the earth was lightened with his glory. And 
he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying: 
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become 
the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul 



Errors of the Papacy. 483 

spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath 
of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have 
committed fornication with her, and the merchants 
of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance 
of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from 
heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye 
be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not 
of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto 
heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.'* 
(Rev. xviii, 1-5.) And so the entire chapter goes 
on with a description of the downfall of Rome ; for 
I have shown you, in a previous lecture, that this 
Babylon is Rome. And its destruction is as defi- 
nitely and positively foretold as ever any event has 
been. No judgments were ever denounced by 
former prophets in plainer terms, or with greater 
certainty, than these against mystical Babylon. But, 
Avithout detaining you for any preliminary remarks, 
we will come at once to the examination of the 
chief facts in connection with the destruction of 
the Roman Church, as they are set forth in proph- 
ecy. 

I. Her destruction is certain. I know, indeed, 
that I shall be told that the Roman hierarchy main- 
tains itself to-day with unabated vigor; that there are 
no signs of advancing age or decrepitude. It is her 
pride that she has not only survived the shock of 
the Reformation, but has actually rejuvenated and 
sprung forward in her career with new elasticity and 
vigor. Even her enemies admit that her system of 
policy is contrived with consummate sagacity, and 

that for the maintenance of her power she has chosen 
31 



484 Lecture XX. 

the most successful means. The various grades of 
her ministry, all subordinated one to another, with 
the absoluteness of military discipline, are admira- 
bly adapted to the propagation of her creed, and the 
enforcement of her claims. Nor can it be questioned 
that she shows signs of great vitality now, and, so 
far as any human foresight can reach, her prospect 
of a long-continued career is very flattering. We 
have been forewarned of her skill and the wisdom of 
her policy by the prophet. With a priesthood un- 
der perfect drill, and skilled in polemics, she shall 
deceive, " if possible, the very elect." To the eye 
of Macaulay she seemed destined to an uninterrupted 
and prosperous existence for ages yet to come. She 
has already survived every government and corpora- 
tion in existence, and yet pushes on her enterprises 
with the elasticity and freshness of youth. And, to 
the imagination of the British essayist, she seemed 
likely to be still flourishing, when, in some coming 
age, a traveler from New Zealand shall stand on a 
broken arch of London bridge, and sketch the ruins 
of St. Paul's. 

But her overthrow has been proclaimed from the 
throne of God, and his word never returns to him 
void, but accomplishes that whereunto it is sent. 
Little sign of their approaching doom saw the inhab- 
itants of the world when Noah proclaimed the ad- 
vancing flood. The sun performed his rounds as 
regularly, spring smiled with as bright a promise, 
and autumn fulfilled it with as rich a plenty, as ever. 
The sky was never bluer, nor more tranquil ; the 
stars were never more quiet. There were no out- 
bursts of elemental wrath, and men felt secure, and 



Errors of the Papacy. 485 

continued eating and drinking, buying and selling, 
*' marrying and giving in marriage," until the very 
day the flood came. The ancient Babylon betrayed 
no symptoms of decay virhen the Hebrew prophet 
announced her utter desolation. She seemed im- 
perishable ; and if the prediction were made known 
to her kings at all, they doubtless laughed at it as 
the frothy declamation of a wild fanatic. And what 
had proud, populous Nineveh to fear, when the word 
of vengeance went out against her ? What signs of 
fate were in her marts or in her palaces ? None ! 
none ! What blight was upon the commerce of 
Tyre when the prophetic malediction sealed her 
fate ? And yet where is the nation or the city 
against which the word of prophecy went forth 
that is not now a silent witness of sure fulfillment ? 
Vain is the most consummate policy, the most 
sagacious diplomacy ; vain is military prowess, when 
God ordains the overthrow of a people. Vain are 
all the signs of growth and permanency. God has 
agencies that no human penetration can discov- 
er, and in due time he will call them from their re- 
treat to execute his sentence. It is useless to coun- 
terwork his plans. He weakens the strength of the 
mighty, and turns the counsels of the wise to fool- 
ishness. The '' two-leaved gates " of Babylon were 
no bar against the agents of his vengeance. Persian 
armies, like grasshoppers, spreading in countless 
numbers over the face of the earth, melted under 
his breath like frost in the spring sunshine. The 
solid masonry of wall and citadel is so much chaff 
before him. 

" See," said one of the disciples to Jesus, proud, 



486 Lecture XX. 

no doubt, as every Jew was, of that wonderful tri- 
umph of architecture, the temple, '' Master, see what 
manner of stones and what buildings are here." The 
massive structure, on its deep foundations, seemed 
destined to rival the duration of the '' everlasting 
hills." But Jesus, answering, said unto him, 
'' Seest thou these great buildings? There shall 
not be left one stone upon another that shall not be 
thrown down." Even then were many living who 
were to witness the literal fulfillment of so strange a 
declaration. 

Let not the Ecclesia Docens boast. The wisdom of 
her policy can avail her nothing when the day of doom 
shall come. The ecclesiastical polity, consolidated 
by the growth of centuries, shall avail her nothing 
then. What though the signs of her decay be not ap- 
parent? What though the agencies of her overthrow 
be undiscovered ? God knows his resources, and 
you may be sure he has threatened nothing which 
he cannot accomplish. When the moment comes, 
the miniaters of his vengeance shall spring from their 
concealment, and no prudence, no skill, no power, 
shall be able to evade or resist them. He hath said 
it, and it shall be done. " Babylon is fallen." The 
fact is as certain, now that it stands upon prophetic 
records, as it will be when traced by the pen of the 
historian. 

IL The destruction of the Papacy will be sudden 
a7id violent. 

" Therefore shall her plagues come m one day, death, and 
mourning, and famine ; and she shall be utterly burned with 
fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the 
kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived deli- 



Errors of the Papacy. 487 

ciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when 
they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for 
the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas ! that great city 
Babylon, that mighty city ! for in one hour is thy judgment 
come ! " (Rev. xviii, 8-10.) " For in one hour so great riches 
is come to naught." (Verse 7.) 

In view of these declarations, we are not to antici- 
pate a gradual decay of the Papal power. On the 
contrary, it seems certain that a career of prosperity 
is to be enjoyed by it up to the very last. There will 
be, probably, no internal premonitions of the destiny 
so imminent, until it shall come. The nations will 
be taken by surprise. The world will be astounded 
at the suddenness of the catastrophe. It will come 
" like a thunder-clap from a cloudless sky." That 
an institution of such great age, and apparently so 
stable, without any previous symptoms of dissolu- 
tion, should in one hour fall into hopeless ruin, will 
be the most startling fact the world has ever heard. 
And so has the Papal policy interwoven itself with 
the varied interests of life, that kings who have lived 
deliciously with her, and merchants who have sup- 
plied her delicacies, shall wail, in the wildness of 
their sudden despair, at her overthrow. 

It is my purpose now, as it has been all along, to 
avoid all questions of dates. I doubt not that if it 
could be accurately determined when the downward 
progress of the Roman Church reached the point 
indicated in prophecy, the date of the overthrow 
coiild be definitely settled. But this I suppose to 
be a difficult question. Some fix upon one fact in 
her descent, and some upon another, as that which 
completed her apostasy, and from which the '' man 



488 Lecture XX. 

of sin " stood forth confessed. No doubt this un- 
certainty is wisely ordered. But we may say, with- 
out the charge of presumption, that no apparent 
vigor of the Papal system can be considered proof 
of the reiitoteness of its destruction. The divine ven- 
geance will make haste. The blow will be as sudden 
as it will be terrible. Judgment, long delayed, will 
break forth all at once, and make up for the delay 
by the rapidity of its execution. Thus will the 
retribution be more apparent, and the fearful lesson 
more deeply impressed upon the consciousness of 
the world. 

But the destruction will be as violent as it will be 
sudden. "A mighty angel took up a stone like a 
great mill-stone, and cast it into the sea, saying, 
Thus ivith violence shall that great city Babylon be 
thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." 

(V. 21.) 

How impressive is this representation ! '^A mighty 
angel," standing near the sea, takes up a stone, *^ like a 
great mill-stone," and, with great force and violence, 
flings it into the sea; and, as the immense boulder 
sinks beneath the waters, he turns and cries : '^Thus, 
with violence, shall that great city Babylon be thrown 
down, and shall be found no more at all." Hoarser 
than the voice of any raven that ever croaked the 
downfall of a tyrant, that denunciation comes echo- 
ing down to us. And we gaze upon the athletic 
form of him that uttered it, and see the great stone 
tossed from his hands, whirling, falling, plunging 
into the measureless waters of the sea ; and we know 
that so sudden and violent shall be the fall of the 
mystical Babylon. Forces more than human, urged 



Errors of the Papacy. 489 

by the energy of remorseless vengeance, shall dash 
her into ruin. She shall ''be found no more at all." 

The "ten horns/* the prophet tells us, ''shall, 
ultimately, turn upon the whore, and make her deso- 
late, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her 
with fire." (Rev. xvii, 16.) Until the words of God 
shall be fulfilled, they shall give their strength to the 
beast that carries her, but when he shall so decree, 
they shall " hate her " and destroy her. It seems 
hkely from this, that in the midst of war and the 
most sanguinary scenes, Rome is to meet her fate. 
No gentle hand is to strip her of her meretricious 
ornaments, or to remove her from her throne. She 
will yield to no solicitation. She will submit to no 
authority. A strong and merciless arm alone can 
bring her down, and that only by her utter destruc- 
tion. It is with violence that she will be, at last, 
"thrown down." 

III. Her overthrow shall be strictly a retribution. 
And in that retribution her own DEEDS shall be re- 
turned upon her. 

National and ecclesiastical crimes are punished in 
this world. Nations and corporations have a species 
of individuality. In their organic capacity they act. 
And, in the divine estimation, they have a character 
resulting from their acts. They are righteous or 
wicked. It is a uniform principle of the Divine 
administration that sin is to be punished. God's 
hatred of sin is to be made manifest in every way 
possible. Retribution every-where awaits the offend- 
er. Men, being immortal, may meet it in another 
world. States and Churches are not so. Their ex- 
istence is limited to the present time. The just 



490 Lecture XX. 

judgments of God, if ever they are to be executed 
upon them at all, must find them out in this world. 
And that this is so is clear from the Scriptures. 
When the old prophets announced the approaching 
judgments of God against a city or a people, it was 
uniformly on the ground of national guilt. So 
evident is this that Nineveh, upon repentance^ obtained 
a " stay of execution." 

Perhaps no city ever suffered a more terrible vis- 
itation than did Jerusalem. You are familiar with 
the history of the siege, and the sacking of that 
city. It makes the hair stand on end. They were, in 
the language of our Saviour, '' miserably destroyed." 
And we have his authority for saying that it was 
because that city had killed the prophets and stoned 
those whom God had sent to her. The blood of all 
the prophets was in Jerusalem. 

The ruins of every desolate city, and the memory 
of every fallen kingdom, proclaim the righteous judg- 
ments of the King of kings. He will let men know 
that he is just, and that crime has no impunity. He 
will send famine, and pestilence, and earthquake, 
and hostile armies; he will rain fire and "brimstone 
from heaven, and bring the ''flood of great waters" 
over the whole earth ; he will make all terrible and 
devastating agents relentless ministers of his wrath, 
to teach forgetful man the holy requirements of his 
law, and the spotless integrity of his Throne. He 
will make us feel that sin can hide under no cloak of 
associated life, but that justice will inevitably hunt 
it out and punish it every-where. Not only must 
each individual participant meet the consequences 
of his own part in the transgression, but the guilty 



Errors of the Papacy. 491 

people, in its aggregate character, must suffer. The 
Papacy cannot hope to be made an exception to 
this rule. If ever corporate crime cried for ven- 
geance, it cries from Rome ; and from the uniform 
precedents of the Divine administration, as well as 
from special prophetic denunciation, it is certain 
that she must fall under the avenging blow. And 
in reference to the character and measure of her 
punishment, we gather the following particulars : 

1. Her sorrow and ruin shall be graduated by 
her pride. ^' How much she hath glorified herself, 
and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow 
give her ; for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and 
am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." (V. 7.) So 
in Daniel the judgments upon the little horn, which, 
as I have heretofore shown, symbolizes the Papacy, 
are declared to be on account of the " great words 
which the horn spake." (Dan. vii, 11.) God has 
declared that he who exalteth himself shall be 
brought low, and we are forewarned that when this 
pretentious Church is brought down she shall suffer 
every plague, " death, and mourning, and famine," 
and she shall be utterly burned with fire. (V. 8.) 
So lofty is the summit of her self-exaltation that the 
momentum of her fall must carry her far below the 
level of ordinary humiliation. 

2. The judgments which shall be visited upon her 
shall be graduated by her own cruelty. *' Reward 
her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her 
double according to her works : in the cup which, she 
hath filled, fill to her double." (V. 6.) What that cup 
is, we may learn from Rev. xiv, 8-1 1 : "And there 
followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is 



492 Lecture XX. 

fallen, that great city, because she made all nations 
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 
And the third angel followed them, saying with a 
loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his 
image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his 
hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath 
of God, which is poured out without mixture into 
the cup of his indignation ; and he shall be torment- 
ed with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy 
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb : and the 
smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and 
ever ; and they have no rest, day nor night, who wor- 
ship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiv- 
eth the mark of his name." Thus is '* the wine of the 
wrath of her fornication," which she prepared for 
men, returned to herself; and she must drink that 
awful potion, " the wine of the wrath of God.'' 

We are informed, in v. 24, that ''in her was found 
the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that 
were slain upon the earth." And all this blood is to 
be mingled in the cup of wrath which she is to 
drink. Every drop of it cries from the ground to 
God, for retribution upon her. " Vengeance is 
mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord." Every child 
of his is sacred. He guards them as the apple of 
his eye ; and though, for inscrutable purposes, he 
may allow iniquity to '' run riot " for a time, and the 
heel of the despot to grind his chosen, when he 
shall at last arouse himself to vengeance, he will re- 
turn upon the oppressor all his tortures '' doubled 

The Romish priests sometimes make a ludicrous 
effort, in this country, to excite sympathy for them- 
selves as a persecuted people. We are becoming 



Errors of the Papacy. 493 

accustomed to very pathetic rhetorical appeals of 
this sort. They seem to be sadly in want of perse- 
cution. If they could only be persecuted a little 
the sentiments of a generous people would rally to 
them at once. But, in default of actual persecution, 
the only alternative is to pretend to be persecuted. 
You have seen children hold their faces in their 
. hands and sob as if their hearts would break, and 
when you offered sympathy, the little rogues would 
laugh and exult most provokingly that they had 
caught you with their game of '' make believe." 
Sometimes grown men play just such pranks, with a 
more sober end in view. 

An unsuspecting Protestant parent listens to the 
seductive and unreal story of advantages to be 
gained by placing his child in the midst of unmiti- 
gated Papal surroundings for some years, in the im- 
pressible period of youth, to be educated. Many 
pledges of disinterestedness, and assurances of the 
absence of every effort to bias the child's mind in 
matters of faith, beguile the too credulous father, 
and he consents. Alas ! it sometimes happens that 
his cherished daughter comes home to turn her 
back upon the family altar, and spurn, the heretical 
worship of her home ! Let that dishonored father 
beware ! Let him say no word to win his child to 
reason and to truth! Let him forget that he is a 
father, and abandon her to her images and her in- 
fatuation I For if he shall betray his feelings, and 
denounce her idolatry, he is a persecutor ! a misera- 
ble Protestant persecutor ! ! And if a most persist- 
ent effort to make a pervert of a patient under 
wild delirium is met by a coolness and courage that 



494 Lecture XX. 

will neither yield to the smooth beguilement of 
adulation, nor the fulminations of infallible preten- 
tion, disconcerted pertinacity, unaccustomed to de- 
feat, vents its disappointment in public outcries 
against the advantage taken of the '' marital " re- 
lation to protect a dying man in the faith of his 
life and choice. 

And then the wail comes with a yet more har- 
rowing pathos. With choked utterance and swim- 
ming eye, we are assured that the dignities and 
honors of the country are rarely, if ever, conferred 
on the children of Rome. O dear ! 

Now, fellow citizens, you know that this is all a 
game of '' make believe." Yoti hiow that candidates 
for office in this country are never questioned as to 
their faith. And if the population of this country 
were polled, man for man, on each side, you would 
find that, of those qualified for office, Romanists 
have more than a full proportion of official trusts 
and honors. And there is not a Protestant on the 
continent, with sufficient intelligence to gain the 
public ear, who is unmanly enough to complain of 
it. The truth is, they are elevated by Protestant 
suffrage, and that in the face of the Roman mani- 
festo, that when the power shall be theirs religious 
toleration is at an end. I am proud of the magna- 
nimity of my countrymen. Strong in the justice of 
their cause, they are not afraid to elevate to office 
men whose religious press has threatened the ark of 
their liberties in that very particular which made 
our ancestors fugitives from their fatherland, and 
led them to an asylum on these shores. 

What gratitude! Representatives of a Church 



Errors of the Papacy. 495 

which lays Protestants under legal disabilities wher- 
ever it touches the springs of government, they 
come to this land, and take shelter under those laws 
by which Protestant liberality protects them in the 
prosecution of their religious plans, and under which 
they enjoy the utmost personal liberty, and offer 
insult to their benefactors by telling them publicly 
that they are persecutors. Hiding the bloody records 
of the Inquisition, and avoiding the name of Huss, 
and of the Duke of Alva, and ten thousand others, 
they put their hands up and whimper, *' We ought 
to have more offices ! " 

Intelligent and large-minded laymen of the Roman 
Church will repudiate all such spurious appeals for 
sympathy. 

I have seen an anecdote in the newspapers of late, 
to this effect : A distinguished American, being in 
Rome, paid his respects to the Pope, who received 
him cordially, and expressed his gratification that 
his spiritual children in the United States enjoyed 
such perfect liberty in the exercise of their religion. 
The American was equally gratified at the fact, and 
expressed the hope that the time would come when 
his countrymen would enjoy equal liberty in Rome. 
'' His Holiness " was embarrassed, and at a loss for 
a reply. Jonathan, as courteous as he was patriotic, 
to relieve the case, added : ^' But I suppose we each 
follow out the logic of our institutions." And Pio, 
seizing upon the happy thought, repeated solemnly : 
" Yes, we each follow out the logic of our institu- 
tions ; each follow out the logic of our institutions." 
Never was a truer sentiment expressed. 

Just let me go to Rome, and discuss freely the 



49^ Lecture XX. 

tenets of religion, protected by the laws, and secure 
in my person, and if, upon failure to convince the 
Romans that they are wrong and the Bible right, I 
begin to Qxy persecution, you may tell me of it. Give 
a Yankee an even start and half a chance, and if he 
begs you to be sorry for him, I will disown him. 
But when it comes to the rack and thumb-screw, 
and burning men alive, I don't know how even a 
Yankee might behave. One thing we know, that 
Rome has often used these gentle persuasives to 
piety. And even now, what, suppose you, would 
befall a colporteur or a Bible distributor in Austria? 
or in Naples ? or in Spain ? or in Rome ? 

That will be a day of terror for Rome, when divine 
retribution shall return to her lips the cup of torment 
which she has filled for others, '^ double." But it 
must be so. God has said it. Accumulated crimes 
must augment delaying vengeance, and the bolt is 
already " red with uncommon wrath." 

We will not attempt a sketch of the dreadful 
scene. The imagination reels and turns blind as 
we approach it. Rome has delighted in anathemas. 
The Psalmist has said of the wicked man, "As he 
loved cursing, so let it come unto him ; and as he 
delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him." 
A man's " evil dealing shall return upon his own 
fate." Rome has prepared her own ruin. The 
world has never seen the parallel of her cruelties. 
In this respect she stands a peerless queen. And 
as she is '' drunk Avith the blood of the saints," so 
will vengeance drain hers. Let us veil the picture! 

IV. The Papacy will be destroyed by the Lord 
himself. "■ And then shall that Wicked be revealed, 



Errors of the Papacy. 497 

whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his 
mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his com- 
ing." (2 Thess. ii, 8.) In the vision in which John 
saw Christ in his glory, described in the first chapter 
of Revelation, he tells us that "out of his mouth 
went a sharp two-edged sword." The word of God, 
we are told by another apostle, " is sharper than any 
two-edged sword." This is *' the spirit of his mouth," 
the word which " shall accomplish that whereunto 
it is sent." For " the sword of the Spirit is the 
word of God." " They that plow iniquity, and sow 
wickedness, reap the same. Bj/ the blast of God 
they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they 
consumed." (Job iv, 8, 9.) "With righteousness 
shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for 
the meek of the earth : and he shall smite the earth 
with the rod of his mouthy and with the breath of 
his lips shall he slay the wicked." (Isa. xi, 4.) " I 
have slain them by the words of my mouth." (Hosea 
vi, 5.) " Is not my word like as a fire, saith the 
Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in 
pieces?" (Jer. xxiii, 29.) Jesus reproved the Church 
at Pergamos for having " them that hold the doc- 
trine of the Nicolaitans," and said, " Repent, or else 
I will come unto thee quickly, and fight against 
them with the sword of my months (Rev. ii, 12-16. 
See also Rev. xix, 11-21.) In this glowing vision 
the apostle saw him whose name is the Word of 
God, sitting on a white horse, followed by the armies 
in heaven on white horses, clothed in fine linen, 
clean and white. Out of his mouth proceeded a 
sharp sword. Against him the armies of the earth 
made war, " and were slain by the sword of him that 



49^ Lecture XX. 

sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his 
mouthr 

It is an appalling thought that the blessed Jesus 
should turn against any. But he is Judge as well as 
Saviour, and there is such a thing as arousing the 
'' wrath of the Lamb.'" And when once he is angry, 
none shall stay his hand. We have no mediator 
with him. Extremity of obstinate rebellion alone 
can raise his anger, and then it is the terrible anger 
of Goodness. Crime and cruelty that zvill not repent 
must be destroyed. The exigencies of the universe 
demand it. And when Love wakes up to vengeance, 
it smites with an exterminating sword. The domain 
of goodness must be cleared of the authors of evil. 
When once the word passes his lips, it becomes a 
sharp, two-edged sword, and no offender can escape. 
Justice flashes across the descending blade, and 
doom is in the blow. The woman, '' drunk with the 
blood of saints," must feel its sharp and burning 
edge, and be consumed. 

'' The brightness of his coming " shall consume the 
man of sin. Sitting in the temple of God, and show- 
ing himself that he is God, the apostate may sport 
blasphemous titles, and trample upon God's law 
and his people, while "the Lord delayeth his com- 
ing." But while he is '' beating his fellow-servants " 
the Master will suddenly appear, and the " bright- 
ness" of his righteous presence shall wither the 
guilty and assuming lordling, and he shall be con- 
sumed. One reproachful glance of Jesus' flaming eye 
shall blast him. It shall bring back the memory of all 
his cruelties at once, and he shall see that every wrong 
done to one of the " little ones " was done to Christ. 



Errors of the Papacy. 499 

The fact that special Divine judgment is to over- 
take and destroy the Papacy is shown by Daniel in 
the vision which I have several times referred to. 
He beheld the career of " the little horn," which we 
have identified as the Papacy, " till the thrones were 
cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose 
garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head 
like the pure wool : his throne was like the fiery 
flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream 
issued and came forth from before him : thousand 
thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand 
times ten thousand stood before him : the judgment 
was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then 
because of the voice of the great words which the 
horn spake : I beheld even till the beast was slain, 
and his body destroyed, and given to the burning 
flame." (Dan. vii, 9-11.) Such is the pre-eminence 
in crime of this boastful power that a special judg- 
ment is appointed for its overthrow. Before the 
tribunal of the Ancient of days, amid the most stu- 
pendous displays of the Godhead, the blood-stained 
culprit must be summoned. " The voice of the great 
words " shall be mute then, and the fiery stream 
which shall come forth from before God shall seize 
upon him. " I beheld even till the beast was slain, 
and his body destroyed, and given to the burning 
flame." 

With such formality, and in such pomp of justice, 

will this great criminal be handed over to execution. 

There can be no escape then. The cry of innocent 

blood has penetrated the ear of " the Lord God of 

Sabaoth." He has clothed himself in terrible 

majesty to reward the enemy of his chosen. The 
32 



500 Lecture XX. 

writ has been issued. The strong hand of the aven- 
ger is on the prisoner. FHght is impossible. The 
Judge is the Incorruptible One. Strength becomes 
feebleness itself in the grasp of the Almighty. And 
the oppressor, lately so proud, wilts under the blast 
of God. His lips are sealed. Guilt chokes his utter- 
ance. He hears his sentence, and the wrathful word 
conveys his doom. 

Let the oppressed of earth in every land be patient. 
Strong is the Lord God who judgeth them. He 
knows his own reasons for delay. Great purposes 
are ripening under his hand. " One day is with the 
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
one day." At ''the time" he will come, the all- 
glorious deliverer of his people, and the avenger of 
their blood. 

V. As the destruction of the mystical Babylon 
shall be sudden and summary, so also shall it be 
complete. No vestige shall be left. 

First. The city of Rome itself shall be completely 
overthrown. As the very ground was cursed for 
man's sake when he fell, so, in many an instance 
since, particular //^<:^^ have been cursed of God, as 
the scenes of unusual crime. You know how the 
cities of the plain were licked up by the tongue of 
flame, and the very site given to the stagnant 
waters of the Dead Sea. The spot was placed under 
ban, and life shut out from the place where its noble 
purposes had been so profanely prostituted. Thus 
is pictured to the eye a most impressive representa- 
tion of the Divine displeasure against sin. The 
very ground polluted by great crimes becomes offen- 
sive to the Almighty. And on the architecture and 



Errors of the Papacy. 501 

the works of art, stained by uncommon pollutions, 
the vials of the divine wrath are poured out. Wit- 
ness the temple at Jerusalem. Polluted as the first 
temple was by idols, God gave it to the flames by 
the hand of the invader. No lustration could recon- 
cile him to it. And the second temple had been 
made a '* den of thieves," and the scene of hypocrisy 
and profane ambition. The hand of the infidel 
Sadducee, as well as of the hypocritical Pharisee, 
had ministered in its sacred rites. The murderers 
of Jesus had trodden its consecrated pavements, and 
conducted its holy solemnities. Its very walls and 
altars had become the symbols of profanation and 
crime. Its fate was announced. '^ One stone shall 
not be left upon another." 

In a few years the Roman is before the walls of 
Jerusalem. He will humble the stubborn and rest- 
less Jews. His authority must not be questioned. 
The city must fall before his arms. But he is a 
Roman, and reverences art and civilization. He 
wields no Vandal brand. The temple, that triumph 
of architecture, shall be preserved. The Roman has 
said it. It shall stand, a monument to future ages 
of Roman generosity and civilization, more than of 
Hebrew piety. The Jew himself, depraved as he 
has become, loves the temple. It is the last monu- 
ment of his people that he would destroy. 

You know the sequel. The exasperation of fa- 
naticism on the one hand, and of checked and baf- 
fled ambition on the other, defeated the strong will 
of both, and fulfilled the malediction of the Son of 
God. At last the plowshare turned over the soil on 
which it stood. 



502 Lecture XX. 

This was the denouement of an unrivaled career of 
crime. 

Unrivaled until the Papal hierarchy outdid it. 
And a yet deeper curse shall fall on Rome. One 
of the Apocalyptic angels shall pour out a " vial of 
wrath " on the seat of the beast. Like a huge boul- 
der cast into the sea, it shall go down " to be seen 
no more at all." The long roll of its history shall 
be all wound up '' in one hour." Vain is the lam- 
entation of '' kings and great men of the earth," 
whose dignities and tyranny Rome has supported. 
In vain does the hoary past plead for her now. 
Scipio and Caesar, your Rome is gone ! Your 
Rome ? Ah, no, not yours. No longer the source 
of civilization and laws, Rome has become an incu- 
bus upon the world, a blight to all noble things. 
The Rome of the Papacy, red with lust, and with 
the blood of saints, pleads in vain an ancestry from 
which her descent is illegitimate. The sound of the 
millstone ceases forever. Bread shall never again 
be wanted there. The bridal merry-making is 
hushed. Human life shall propagate itself no long- 
er there. The last echo of cheerful or mournful 
mellifluence is dead. No craftsman's hammer breaks 
the dead silence, nor the light of a single candle 
gleams through the thick gloom. 

Then the merchants of those things that fed and 
adorned the harlot, who were made rich by her 
sumptuous demands, " shall stand afar off, for the 
fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and say- 
ing, Alas, alas ! that great city, that was clothed in 
fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with 
gold, and precious stones, and pearls ; for in one 



Errors op^ the Papacy. 503 

hour so great riches is come to naught. And every 
shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sail- 
ors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and 
cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, say- 
ing: What city is like unto this great city! And 
they cast dust upon their heads, and cried, weeping 
and wailing, saying : Alas ! alas ! that great city, 
wherein were made rich all that had ships in the 
sea, by reason of her costliness ! for in one hour she 
is made desolate." (Rev. xviii, 15-19.) 

Rome must cease to be a city. That great cen- 
ter of interest and travel to the civilized world must 
be swept away. The Word of God has said it, and 
it must be. Her costly ceremonials and adornments 
must cease to be the source of revenue to the mer- 
chants of the earth. Her palaces and basilicas must 
come down. The place where she was shall remain 
alone, the desolate memorial of her crimes and her 
judgments. The stupendous pile of St. Peter's must 
become a dismantled witness of her overthrow. 

With the great city, her proud ecclesiasticism 
must fall. That system, which has impressed itself 
so widely and so deeply upon history, must yield to 
God's decree. AH the ligaments which hold it to- 
gether must be dissolved. '' The sword of his 
mouth" will sunder them, and it shall fall to pieces 
and be no more. The anathemas of Councils, and 
the fulminations of the Vatican, will echo only in 
the history of periods retreating into a past yet 
more and more remote, like the gradually expiring 
cadence of distant thunder in a retreating storm. 
The pretentions of the priesthood will come to sound 
like fabulous stories of a forgotten age. Her perse- 



504 Lecture XX. 

cutions will blacken over a few pages of the world's 
chronicles, and a few book-worms only will know 
the whole revolting story. Now and then an anti- 
quary will roam over the seven hills and sketch the 
ruins, if even tJiey be left to speak, with dumb pa- 
thos, of her greatness and her ruin. 

VI. Celestial exultation shall celebrate the fall of 
Babylon. " Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye 
holy apostles and prophets ; for God hath avenged 
you on her." (Rev. xviii, 20.) ''And after these 
things I heard a great voice of much people in 
heaven, saying, Alleluia ! Salvation, and glory, and 
honor, and power, unto the Lord our God : for 
true and righteous are his judgments : for he hath 
judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth 
with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of 
his servants at her hand. And again they said. Al- 
leluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. 
And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts 
fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne, 
saying. Amen ! Alleluia ! And a voice came out of 
the throne, saying. Praise our God, all ye his serv- 
ants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multi- 
tude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the 
voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia ! for 
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." (Rev. xix, 
1-6.) Thus jubilant will the hosts of heaven be- 
come upon the great event. They have no delight 
in blood. They rejoice not at her torment. But her 
power for evil shall be at an end forever, and the 
just judgments of God upon her shall protect his 
people against her bloody hand. When she can 



Errors of the Papacy. 505 

smite the saints no more, their kindred in the skies 
shall triumph. When the great idolatrous power 
comes to naught — that which in pagan and Papal 
forms had been dominant so long — well, well may- 
heaven be glad. It is the triumph of the cross. It 
is the conquest of the earth for God. It is the de- 
feat of the dragon who gave the beast his power. 
It is the death-blow of idolatry and despotism. It 
is the triumph of a pure worship. For God's honor 
and the world's peace, celestial songs resound : *'A1- 
leluia : for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 
The Throne of the Highest shall be vindicated. 
"True and righteous are his judgments." 

VII. The true Church shall be exalted and estab- 
lished in her full immunities : " Let us be glad and 
rejoice ; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and 
his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was 
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, 
clean and white : for the fine linen is the right- 
eousness of saints. And he saith unto me. Write, 
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage- 
supper of the Lamb." (Rev. xix, 7-9.) The proc- 
lamation had been issued before Babylon fell : " Come 
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of 
her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." 
(Rev. xviii, 4.) Doubtless every one who responds 
to that summons shall be bidden to the marriage of 
the Lamb. With her they shall sit down in quiet- 
ness, for the throne of violence has been cast down. 
The Church in her bridal robes shall " come up from 
the wilderness, leaning on the arm of her Beloved." 
Radiant in " the beauty of holiness," and calmly 
confident in the love of her Lord, she shall possess 



5o6 Lecture XX. 

the earth " from the rising of the sun to the going 
down thereof." 

After describing the destruction of the beast by 
the Ancient of days, Daniel says : " I saw in the 
night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man 
came, with the clouds of heaven, and came to the 
Ancient of days, and they brought him near before 
him. And there was given him dominion, and 
glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and 
languages should serve him : his dominion is an 
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, 
and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." 
(Dan. vii, 13, 14.) And again, "'The saints of the 
Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the 
kingdom forever, even for ever and ever." (V. 18.) 

The great barrier to the spread of truth and the 
triumph of the Church is the little horn speaking 
great things, the Man of sin, the mystical Babylon. 
That destroyed, the '' Word of God shall have free 
course," unclogged of corrupt traditions. The 
Church shall put on her '' beautiful garments," and 
the saints of the Most High shall possess the king- 
dom. The conquests of the cross shall be pressed 
with increasing ardor, until '' righteousness shall 
cover the earth as the waters do the sea." *'A 
nation shall be born in a day," and " the kingdoms 
of the earth shall become the kingdoms of our God 
and his anointed." 

In my next lecture I will call your attention to 
the question, '' What have Papal Missions done for 
Religion and Civilization ? 



Errors of the Papacy. 507 



LECTURE XXI. 

WHAT ROMANISM HAS DONE FOR RELIGION AND 
CIVILIZATION. 

PERHAPS no three events, standing so near 
each other in chronological succession, have 
had so much to do with the world's destiny as the 
discovery of the art of printing, and of the use of 
the needle in navigation, and the Reformation of 
the sixteenth century. Their combined result has 
been incalculable. By means of the first the best 
thoughts of the world are placed in easy reach of 
the laborer; and he who has but little time, or, it 
may be, skill, for thinking, becomes proprietor of 
the labors of those who have both. Science has 
thus been diffused to an extent which must have 
remained, otherwise, impossible. By means of the 
second a new continent was opened to civilization 
just at the time when the world was getting ready 
for it, and commerce was placed on a footing other- 
wise unattainable. There was opened an easy high- 
way between the hemispheres, and a ready inter- 
change between the remotest marts. And the 
Reformation came just in time to slip the leash 
from the human mind, by which it had been re- 
strained for ages, and bid it go forth into the im- 
measurable fields just opened to it, and do its 
utmost. 

The discovery of America was almost immediate- 



5o8 Lecture XXI. 

\y followed up, in the Southern portion of the new 
Continent, by colonial occupation on the part of 
Spain. That power took possession of Mexico and 
Central and South America at once. And it is a 
coincidence worth mentioning, at least, that just 
about the time when Luther was first proclaiming 
the doctrines of the Reformation Spain was in- 
augurating her colonial system in the Western 
world. Just at the time when those doctrines be- 
gan to spread and take root in the German mind, 
Cortez and Pizarro and Alvarado, and other advent- 
urers, were making their astonishing conquests in 
America. At the very moment when the most pow- 
erful and enlightened nations of Europe were escap- 
ing the grasp of the Roman hierarchy, Spain was 
opening a barbarian continent to its occupation. 

These Spanish conquests were made with in- 
credible rapidity. In a few years Mexico, Central 
America, and a large portion of South America, 
were reduced by them, and the authority of Spain 
was acknowledged all over those vast territories. 
With that authority the field was opened to the 
Roman missionary. And for this reason I invite 
your attention to these facts. 

We have heard it said, and reiterated, that Rome 
must be accepted as the true Church of God, be- 
cause she has the means of converting the heathen, 
and has done a work worthy of the Church in that 
particular. While, on the other hand. Protestant- 
ism has been disparaged as being unadapted to the 
fulfillment of this vital function of religion, and the 
inference is made that Protestantism is, therefore, a 
spurious movement. 



Errors of the Papacy. 509 

Now, it must be granted that if the Roman 
Church, in her rule of faith and in her methods of 
operation, is more efficient in spreading a pure 
Christianity among the nations than any other 
Church, this fact raises a strong presumption in her 
favor. I propose, therefore, to give you a brief ac- 
count of her missionary operations for the last three 
hundred years or more, that we may be able to de- 
termine whether her claims in this particular are 
just, or whether they be not in this, as in so many 
other particulars, mere assumptions. I have chosen 
the last three hundred years, because that is the only 
period in which her labors may be contrasted with 
those of Protestantism ; and I shall speak more 
largely of her work on our own continent, to the 
south of us, for her most brilliant achievements have 
been there. 

I may remark here that the Spanish conquests in 
the South, and the first settlement of the New En- 
gland colonies, were both religious movements — 
proceeding, however, upon very different principles. 
The one was the movement of the Throne and the 
Hierarchy, and the object was conquest and subjuga- 
tion. The other was the movement of men, and the 
object was liberty. The one was the enterprise of 
the Monarch and the Pope, to extend their domin- 
ion, secular and religious, over a barbarous people ; 
the other was an effort to escape from ecclesiastical 
tyranny, and to enjoy the privilege of worshiping 
God according to his Word. The religious move- 
ment was probably ascendant in both. 

The result for Christianity and civilization is be- 
fore the world. Romanism had about a hundred 



5IO Lecture XXL 

years the start in the race. It is pertinent to the 
matter before us to ask what she has done, and how 
she did it. 

The entire history of the Spanish American con- 
quests falls within the range of this discussion, for 
the avowed object of those conquests, the object 
sanctioned at Rome, was to subjugate the new world 
to the Church. It was, so far as the authority of the 
Papacy could make it so, a grand missioiiary move- 
ment. Pope ** Alexander VL, in his famous bulls of 
May 3d and 4th, 1493, conveys to Ferdinand and 
Isabella full and absolute right over all such terri- 
tories in the Western World as may not have been 
previously occupied by Christian princes." (Pres- 
cott's Conquest of Mexico, vol. 2, p. 32, note.) 

But, you may ask. What right had the Pope to 
the New World, to be giving it away thus ? A very 
pertinent question, and one which is easily an- 
swered. The theory was that the world belongs of 
right to the Church, and that no government except 
that which submits to the Church is legitimate. The 
Pope, who is the head and representative of the 
Church, has the right, therefore, to give every terri- 
tory occupied by a Government not Christian, or, 
indeed, not Papal, to any Christian prince. The 
Popes had acted on this principle in absolving the 
subjects of heretical princes from their allegiance, 
and authorizing crusades against the territories of 
heretics, directing princes in the Roman communion 
to possess themselves of such. On this ground Al- 
exander gave the New World to Spain. Neither 
Montezuma, nor any inca or cacique, had any rights. 
They were hereditary monarchs, to be sure, with an 



Errors of the Papacy. 511 

authority well recognized and established in the his- 
tory and usages of their country, but they were not 
Christian princes^ and so had no rights. 

That I am not speaking at random will be clear 
to you, if you will but recall the historical facts 
bearing upon this principle, which I have given in 
former lectures. Prescott, in his History of the 
Conquest of Mexico, vol. 2, pp. 30-32, says : " The 
difficulty that meets us in the outset is to find a jus- 
tification of the right of conquest at all. But it 
should be remembered that religious infidelity, at 
this period, and till a much later, was regarded — no 
matter whether founded on ignorance or education, 
whether hereditary or acquired, heretical or pagan 
— as a sin to be punished with fire and fagot in this 
world, and eternal suffering in the next. This doc- 
trine, monstrous as it is, was the creed of the Rom- 
ish — in other words, of the Christian — Church, the 
basis of the Inquisition, and of those other species 
of religious persecutions which have stained the an- 
nals, at some time or other, of nearly every nation 
in Christendom. Under this code, the territory of 
the heathen, wherever found, was regarded as a sort 
of religious waif, which, in default of a legal pro- 
prietor, was claimed and taken possession of by the 
Holy See, and as such was freely given away, by 
the head of the Church, to any temporal potentate 
whom he pleased, that would assume the burden of 
conquest. Thus Alexander the Sixth generously 
granted a large portion of the western hemisphere 
to the Spaniards, and of the eastern to the Portu- 
guese. These lofty pretentions of the successors 
of the humble fisherman of Galilee, far from being 



512 Lecture XXI. 

nominal, were acknowledged and appealed to as con- 
clusive in controversies between nations. With the 
right of conquest thus conferred came also the ob- 
ligation, on which it may be said to have been 
founded, to retrieve the nations sitting in darkness 
from eternal perdition. This obligation was ac- 
knowledged by the best and the bravest, the gowns- 
man in his closet, the missionary, and the warrior 
in the crusade. However much it may have been 
debased by temporal motives, and mixed up with 
worldly considerations of ambition and avarice, it 
was still active in the mind of the Christian con- 
queror. We have seen how far paramount it was to 
every calculation of personal interest in the breast 
of Cortes. The concession of the Pope, then found- 
ed on and enforcing the imperative duty of conver- 
sion, was the assumed basis — and, in the apprehen- 
sion of that age, a sound one — of the right of con- 
quest." This learned and very accurate historian 
gives abundant references to authorities in his co- 
pious foot-notes, which you may see by referring to 
the place. Indeed, no one at all conversant with 
the history of those times will deny it. 

The conduct of the Spanish chieftains in their 
American conquests shows them to have been actu- 
ated by those considerations. Religious motives, 
if not always paramount, were yet always felt by 
them. This is true especially of Fernando Cortes, 
the Conqueror of Mexico. This chivalrous Castilian 
is, to my mind, the best character of his class and 
times. He was not a cruel man by nature. True, 
he never hesitated at the perpetration of any bar- 
barity that might be necessary to secure his end. 



Errors of the Papacy. 513 

Blood, any quantity of it, must flow, if that might 
speed his enterprise. Cities must be demolished, if 
they stood in the way. But those things are inci- 
dents of the horrid trade of war. Cortes was not 
wantonly cruel. He did not take pleasure in blood, 
and if he found it necessary to make use of Indian 
auxiliaries, he did what he could to check their bru- 
tality in the hour of victory. It is true he carried 
a world of sorrow to the poor natives along with 
him, and inflamed and made use of their savage 
passions against each other, and scattered desolation 
wide. But it is not to be charged to any savage 
propensity of his. The system under which he was 
trained is responsible. The Church that gave the 
New World to Spain, and bade her conquer it, is 
responsible. To the mind of Cortes bloodshed was 
a sacred duty until Mexico should yield to Christian 
arms. It was a high Christian duty to penetrate 
those peaceful territories, demand their submission 
to Spain and Rome, and upon refusal murder them 
and desolate their homes, and devastate their coun- 
try until they should be compelled to submit. 

That the extension of the Church was Cortes' 
leading object is seen in the " Code of ordinances," 
which he established for his army when he was pre- 
paring for his second descent upon Mexico. '* The 
instrument," says Prescott, '* reminds the army that 
the conversion of the heathen is the work most ac- 
ceptable in the eye of the Almighty, and one that 
will be sure to receive his support. It calls on every 
soldier to regard this as the prime object of the ex- 
pedition, without which the war would be manifestly 
unjust^ and every acquisition made by it a robbery'' 



514 Lecture XXI. 

(Con. of Mex., vol. 2, p. 456.) " The General solemnly 
protests that the principal motive which operates in 
his own bosom, is the desire to wean the natives 
from their gloomy idolatry, and to impart to them 
the knowledge of a purer faith ; and, next, to re- 
cover for his master, the Emperor, the dominions 
which of right belong to himy (lb.) How that right 
originated we have seen. 

This religious motive was not, however, the only 
one operative in the case ; and, perhaps, without 
some additional incentive Cortes would scarcely 
have held his adventurers together. Certainly none 
except Cortes could have done so. They fought for 
the Church, for their sovereign, and for — gold. 
Cortes told the first Mexicans he met one truth, at 
least. He told them that the Spaniards had a dis- 
ease of the heart, for which gold was a specific remedy. 
They must have gold. And if ever their piety failed 
to support them in their dangers and fatigues, the 
hope of amassing untold treasures came to their aid. 
They had proof that there was gold at the Aztec 
capital, and, once they should be masters of Mexico, 
it would be theirs. Yet, on occasion, tKey were 
never untrue to their religious professions. No 
danger could induce them to forego an effort to per- 
suade or force the natives to give up their idols. In 
the face of any odds, they would tear them from 
their pedestals, and erect the images of the Virgin 
and her Son in their places. Two missionaries ac- 
companied the expedition — Juan Diaz and Barto- 
lome de Olmedo. The latter was a man of more 
discretion than most of those engaged in the work 
at the same time. 



Errors of the Papacy. 515 

Whatever we may think of the wisdom or the 
piety of the act, we must at least acknowledge it a 
sublime and thrilling spectacle, when the Conquis- 
tador stood in the capital of the Totonacs, with a 
few scores, a mere handful, of followers, surrounded 
by thousands upon thousands of barbarian warriors, 
proposing to them the surrender of their god. The 
Totonac lord clung to the gods of his fathers ; and 
when the stranger threatened to destroy them, his 
blood boiled, and he gave them to understand that 
he would at once avenge any indignity that might 
be offered them. The bold Spaniard said to his 
comrades that ^' Heaven would never smile on their 
enterprise if they countenanced such atrocities, and 
that, for his own part, he was resolved the Indian 
idols should be demolished that very hour, if it cost 
him his life! " 

" Scarcely waiting for his commands, the Spaniards moved 
toward one of the principal teocallis, or temples, which rose 
high on a pyramidal foundation, with a steep ascent of stone 
steps in the middle. The cacique, divining their purpose, in- 
stantly called his men to arms. The Indian warriors gathered 
from all quarters, with shrill cries and clashing of weapons ; 
while the priests, in their dark cotton robes, with disheveled 
tresses, matted with blood, flowing wildly over their shoulders, 
rushed frantic among the natives, calling on them to protect 
their gods from violation. All was now confusion, tumult and 
warlike menace, where so lately had been peace and the 
sweet brotherhood of nations. 

" Cortes took his usual prompt and decided measures. He 
caused the cacique, and some of the principal inhabitants and 
priests, to be arrested by his soldiers. He then commanded 
them to quiet the people, for, if an arrow was shot against a 
Spaniard, it should cost every one of them his life. Marina, 



5i6 Lecture XXI. 

at the same time, represented the madness of resistance, and 
reminded the cacique that, if he now ahenated the affections of 
the Spaniards, he would be left without a protector against the 
terrible vengeance of Montezuma. These temporal considera- 
tions seem to have had more weight with the Totonac chief- 
tain than those of a more spiritual nature. He covered his 
face with his hands, exclaiming that the gods would avenge 
their own wrongs. 

" The Christians were not slow in availing themselves of his 
tacit acquiescence. Fifty soldiers, at a signal from their gen- 
eral, sprang up the great stairway of the temple, entered the 
building on the summit, the walls of which were black with 
human gore, tore the huge wooden idols from their foundations, 
and dragged them to the edge of the terrace. Their fantastic 
forms and features, conveying a symbolic meaning, which was 
lost on the Spaniards, seemed, in their eyes, only the hideous 
lineaments of Satan. With great alacrity, they rolled the co- 
lossal monsters down the steps of the pyramid, amidst the tri- 
umphant shouts of their own companions, and the groans and 
lamentations of the natives. They then consummated the 
whole by burning them in the presence of the assembled mul- 
titude. 

" The same effect followed as in Cozumel. The Totonacs, 
finding their deities incapable of preventing or even punishing 
this profanation of their shrines, conceived a mean opinion of 
their power, compared with that of the mysterious and formi- 
dable strangers. The floors and walls of the Teocalli were then 
cleansed, by command of Cortes, from their foul impurities ; a 
fresh coating of stucco was laid on them by the Indian masons, 
and an altar was raised, surmounted by a lofty cross, and hung 
with garlands of roses. A procession was next formed, in 
which some of the principal Totonac priests, exchanging their 
dark mantles for robes of white, carried lighted candles in their 
hands, while an image of the Virgin, half-smothered under the 
weight of flowers, was borne aloft, and, as the procession 
climbed the steps of the temple, was deposited above the altar. 
Mass was performed by Father Olmedo, and the impressive 
character of the ceremony, and the passionate eloquence of the 



Errors of the Papacy. 517 

good priest, touched the feelings of the motley audience, until 
Indians, as well as Spaniards, if we may trust the chronicler, 
were melted into tears and audible sobs," (Con. of Mexico, 
vol. I, pp. 358, 360.) 

Cortes knew that the natives would be roused to 
as great a pitch, or greater, by these indignities to 
their gods, as by any other means. But he was a 
" Crusader," and was true to the cross. He was 
ready to brave any thing if he might thereby erect 
the emblem of our faith in the temples of the Aztecs. 
Indeed, the more judicious Father Olmedo had often 
to restrain his impetuous zeal. 

These soldiers of the cross were very religious, 
but not so moral as they might have been. Cortes 
himself, carrying religion at the point of the sword, 
and exposing himself to death in a thousand forms, 
was accompanied throughout his campaigns by a 
beautiful Indian mistress, who bore him a son. 
And the adventurers who followed him were noto- 
rious gamblers and blasphemers. But, upon the 
approach of any unusual danger, they confessed to 
the ever-present Father Olmedo, who said mass, 
and graciously prepared them for the worst. And 
just at the worst pinch, when they were about to 
invest the City of Mexico, there came '' a Domini- 
can friar, who brought a quantity of pontifical bulls, 
offering indulgences to those engaged in war against 
the infidel. The soldiers were not slow to fortify 
themselves with the good graces of the Church ; 
and the worthy father, after driving a prosperous 
traffic with his spiritual wares, had the satisfaction 
to return home, at the end of a few months, well 
freighted, in exchange, with the more substantial 



5i8 Lecture XXI. 

treasures of the Indies." (Con. of Mex., vol. 3, 

P- 47-) 

So fervid and fanatical an imagination had these 

doughty crusaders, that they sometimes beheld 
the Apostle James, the patron saint of the Span- 
iard, " careering on his milk-white steed, at the 
head of the Christian squadron, with his sword 
flashing lightning, while a lady, robed in white — 
supposed to be the Virgin — was distinctly seen by 
his side, throwing dust in the eyes of the infidel ! 
The fact is attested both by Spaniards and Mexi- 
cans — by the latter after their conversion to Chris- 
tianity." (Con. of Mex., vol. 2, p. 341.) 

I have dwelt thus long on these facts because of 
their immediate connection with the missionary 
operations of the Roman Church. The Spaniard 
conquered the country for the Churchy and filled it 
with the terror of the Christian arms, to facilitate 
the work of the priest. An overawed and subdued 
people would be ready to submit to the religion im- 
posed upon them by their terrible, and to them al- 
most superhuman, conquerors. 

The case of the Totonacs, given already, will 
show you by what means the Spaniards carried on 
the work of conversion. They had before that, in 
the most summary manner, converted the Tabas- 
cans. In a terrible battle, in which cannon for the 
first time opened their volcanic throats against these 
poor savages, and when, for the first time, they saw 
" the horse and his rider," they were completely 
subdued. In the cavalry they supposed horse and 
man to be one being, to them terrible beyond meas- 
ure ; and as the squadron came prancing on, dash- 



Errors of the Papacy. 519 

ing into the midst of their undisciplined masses, 
trampling them under foot, and hewing them down 
right and left, no wonder they fled like so many 
frightened sheep. In the discharge of firearms, 
they imagined they saw the thunder and lightning 
of heaven breaking loose against them from the 
hands of their assailants. 

When, after their defeat, they were required to 
give up their old gods, terror prompted their acqui- 
escence. They had seen their images thrown, un- 
resisting, from their altars, by the invincible Span- 
iard, and what could they do ? They were in no 
humor to expose themselves to another volley of 
thunder, and so they just gave up and became Chris- 
tians. (Con. of Mex., vol. i, pp. 284, 292. 

Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru, was a more fero- 
cious man than Cortes. Yet he was a soldier of the 
cross, and conquered for the Church, for his sover- 
eign, and for gold. The inevitable priest was with 
him. Peru was an exceedingly rich and tempting 
country. The Inca, or king, was a rich and very 
powerful sovereign. At the moment of Pizarro's 
invasion two rivals for the throne had plunged the 
country in civil war. One of them, named Atahu- 
alpa, hearing of the prowess of the invader, sought 
his alliance. The Spaniard listened to his overtures, 
and it was arranged that the Inca should make him 
a visit. The unsuspecting monarch came in great 
state, accompanied by a vast multitude, all unpre- 
pared for hostilities ; for when was it ever known 
among Indians that confidence was violated ? As 
he approached Pizarro's quarters. Father Valverde, 
chaplain to the expedition, met him wnth the crucifix 



520 Lecture XXI. 

and the breviary, stated to him the Christian doc- 
trine in a brief way, and demanded his submission 
to the cross and to the Spanish throne. The Inca 
was filled with indignation and surprise. He could 
see no ground of right upon which a foreign monarch 
could assert authority over him, the hereditary 
sovereign of the land. He said as much. Nor could 
he, upon so brief and imperfect a statement of the 
Christian doctrine, see the truth or force of its claims. 
Demanding of the priest where he had learned such 
extraordinary things, that functionary reached out 
his breviary (it seems he had no Bible) and said, 
" In this book." Atahualpa opened it, and, turning 
over its leaves, lifted it to his ear. '' This," said he, 
" is silent ; it tells me nothing," and threw it with 
disdain to the ground. The enraged monk, running 
towards his countrymen, cried out, '* To arms ! Chris- 
tians, to arms ! the word of God is insulted ; avenge 
this profanation on those impious dogs !" 

Pizarro gave the signal of assault. The soldiers, 
greedy of blood and gold, fell like tigers on the Peru- 
vians. The Inca was made a prisoner, and the 
natives driven off with great slaughter. A worthy 
missionary was Father Valverde, with Pizarro to 
help him ! 

But the story is not ended. Atahualpa offered gold 
for his ransom — gold vessels that should fill the room 
in which he was confined (sixteen feet by twenty- 
two), as high as he could reach. Pizarro closed the 
bargain, and the gold came, from various quarters, 
such loads as Spanish eyes had never seen. They 
could not wait for the full amount, but began to 
melt it down. The captive demanded his release. 



Errors of the Papacy. 521 

Alas ! he was never to be free again. An impromptu 
court of justice was organized, and the astonished 
Indian monarch was arraigned and put on trial for 
his hfe, before the perfidious men who had done him 
so many wrongs in the name of God. A Hst of 
charges was made, some false, and some for customs 
which he had followed as a heathen prince. He was 
tried, condemned, and sentenced to be burned alive. 
And the good priest, Valverde, signed the sentence. 
He was ordered to instant execution, and, says 
Robertson, '' what added to the bitterness of his last 
moments, the same monk who had just ratified his 
doom, offered to console, and attempted to convert 
him. The most powerful argument Valverde em- 
ployed to prevail with him to embrace the Christian 
faith, was a promise of mitigation in his punishment. 
The dread of a cruel death extorted from the tremb- 
ling victim a desire of receiving baptism. The cere- 
mony was performed, and Atahualpa, instead of 
being burnt, was strangled at the stake." (Robert- 
son's History of America, Harper's Family Library 
Edition, pp. 398, 411.) 

I mention these facts to show the animus of the 
first missionary operations in Spanish America. 
Cortes was in the habit of summoning the Indians 
to submit to his sovereign and the cross, and when 
they disregarded it, it was certified in due form by 
a notary, as proof that the guilt of blood was not on 
the Christian arms, but on the pugnacious natives, 
a few of whom had to be killed to make Christians 
of the remainder. 

The result was as might have been anticipated. 
European intelligence, ^/^r^-^r;;^.?, and Castilian chiv- 



522 Lecture XXI. 

airy triumphed. The natives were subdued, and the 
religion of the conquerors was speedily embraced. 
The native gods failed to avenge the insults offered 
them. The Spaniards wielded the thunder and light- 
ning. The impotent gods lost their hold upon their 
devotees, while their conquerors seemed to them a 
race of superior beings. Besides that there were 
traditions of a people that should come from the 
East and subdue the country. And they themselves 
had a god — the god of rain — whose symbol was the 
cross. And they had their processions and pomp- 
ous ceremonies, for which the processions and rites 
of the Romish worship were a good substitute. If 
they must relinquish the images of their gods, the 
symbols that brought the objects of their adoration 
down to their senses, the Romanist accommodated 
them again, for he supplied them with images as 
many as heart could wish. Once the Spaniard was 
dominant, the work of conversion proceeded bravely. 
According to some accounts there were nine millions 
of converts baptized in Mexico within a period of 
twenty years ; a number, says Prescott, probably 
exceeding the entire population of the country. 
The missionaries counted to good advantage. Some 
estimates make the number much less. At all 
events, a prodigious number received baptism. But 
what did these sudden conversions amount to ? 
Did they make Christiayis ? That is the question. 
Let us hear Robertson : 

" On the discover)^ of America, a new field opened to the 
pious zeal of the monastic orders ; and with a becoming alac- 
rity they immediately sent forth missionaries to labor in it. 
The first atternpt to instruct and convert the Americar|s was 



Errors of the Papacy. 523 

made by monks ; but the success of their endeavors in com- 
municating the knowledge of true religion to the Indians has 
been -more iinperfect than might have been expected, either 
from the degree of their zeal, or from the dominion which they 
had acquired (wer that people. For this, various reasons may- 
be assigned. The first missionaries, in their ardor to make 
proselytes, admitted the people of America into the Christian 
Church without previous instruction in the doctrines of relig- 
ion, and even before they themselves had acquired such knowl- 
edge in the Indian language as to be able to explain to the na- 
tive the mysteries of faith, or the precepts of duty. Resting 
upon a subtle distinction in scholastic theology, between that 
degree of assent which is founded on a complete knowledge 
and conviction of duty, and that which may be yielded when 
both these are imperfect,they adopted this strange practice, no 
less inconsistent with the spirit of a religion which addresses 
itself to the understanding of men, than repugnant to the dic- 
tates of reason. As sooti as any body of people, oruerawed by 
dread of the Spanish power, moved by the example of their 
own chiefs, incited by levity, or yielding from 7nere ignorance, 
expressed the slightest desire of embracing the religion of their 
conquerors, they were iiistantly baptized. While this rage of 
conversion continued, a single clergyman baptized in one day 
above five thousand Mexicans, and did not desist until he was 
so exhausted by fatigue that he was unable to lift his hands. 
In the course of a few years after the reduction of the Mexican 
Empire, the sacrament of baptism was administered to more 
than four millions. Proselytes adopted with such inconsiderate 
haste, and who were neither instructed in the nature of the 
tenets to which it was supposed they had given assent, nor 
taught the absurdity of those they were required to relinquish, 
retained their veneration for their ancient superstitions in full 
force, or mingled an attachment to its doctrines and rites with 
that slender knowledge of Christianity which they had acquired. 
These sentiments the new converts transmitted to their poster- 
ity, into whose minds they have sunk so deep that the Spanish 
ecclesiastics, with all their industry, have not been able to erad- 
icate them. The religious institutions of their ancestors are 



524 Lecture XXI. 

still renieiiibered and held 171 honor by the Indians, both in 
Mexico and Peru ; and whenever they think themselves out of 
reach of inspection by the Spaniards, they assemble and cele- 
brate their idolatrous rites." (Discovery and Conquest of Amer- 
ica, pp. 518-520,) 

Twenty years ago Stevens saw proof of this, which 
he has recorded in his travels. He mentions it par- 
ticularly amongst the Quiche Indians. They have 
been duly converted, have magnificent churches, 
attend mass, and all ; and yet are gross idolaters. 
One of their priests himself told Mr. Stevens that 
they had their gods out in the mountains and ra- 
vines, and that they were constantly stealing away 
to practice the rites received from their fathers. 
They mingled their reverence for the sun even in 
the devotions of the Church. All this the priest 
knew, and said he was compelled to wink at it! There 
was a cave connected in some way with the idolatry 
of their ancestors. The priest put a piece of money 
in the mouth of this cave, and found it there a year 
afterwards, though the Indians frequented the place ; 
whereas the padre said if it had been left on his 
table, it would have gone with the first Indian who 
might have had a chance to steal it. (Vol. 2, pp. 
191, 192.) And these are the Christians which the 
vaunted missions of the Church have made ! Still 
idolaters, and kept from stealing only by the influ- 
ence of their Pagan sacred places. '' Tell it not in 
Gath." 

The singular efficacy of these sudden military 
conversions is further illustrated by a fact which 
Prescott gives. In an expedition to Honduras 
Cortes halted on his way for a time among the 



Errors of the Papacy. 525 

Indians whom he found upon the isles of Lake Peten. 
He gained great ascendency over the simple bar- 
barians, and, no doubt, gave them some interesting 
exhibitions of '' thunder and lightning," and of the 
evolutions of his cavalry. Overawed by the pres- 
ence of these superior beings, the inhabitants of 
Peten were easily persuaded to receive the rite of 
baptism, and I don't know how many swelled the 
numbers reported to Rome. Cortes and his band 
passed on, leaving behind, however, a disabled horse. 
Never before was a horse so honored as this one. 
The natives regarded him with superstitious rever- 
ence. They made dainty messes for him, and nursed 
him as they did their own sick. But the old horse 
starved to death on poultry — literally killed by 
kindness. Great was their grief, and they made a 
statue of the horse, and set it up in their temple. 
And, nearly a hundred years afterwards, two Fran- 
ciscan Friars came amongst them, and found them 
worshiping the statue of Cortes' horse, under the 
name of the God of Thunder and Lightning! They 
got the name, doubtless, from the firearms which ac- 
companied their new god when he made his advent 
amongst them. (Con. of Mex., vol. 3, p. 294,) 

Besides these authoritative methods of conversion, 
the missionaries resorted to others, which promised 
results scarcely better. Not only did they gratify 
the rude imagination of the natives by the sensuous 
rites of the Roman worship, but also gratified their 
superstition by '' pious frauds." They discovered 
that the apostle Thomas had been in America. The 
Mexicans had a benevolent god, whose name was 
Quetzalcoatl, the last syllable of which signifies a 



526 Lecture XXI. 

*' twin." Now, Didymus, the surname of Thomas, 
has the same meaning ; proof enough that Thomas 
had been in America, and that the beneficent divinity 
was nobody but he. Here was a lever by which 
they might operate on the superstition of the natives, 
to turn them to Christianity. The Indian traditions 
concerning this god still further favored their views. 
After sojourning with them for a time, the other 
gods drove him out of the country, and when he 
left he promised that he and his descendants would 
return from the East at some future day. And 
many of the Mexicans surmised from the first that 
the Spaniards were the very beings whose coming 
was thus predicted. When they were conquered, 
and the invaders were established in their country, 
it was easy to turn the surmise into a conviction, 
and you can see how it would at once strengthen the 
other motives which I have mentioned, which 
prompted the hasty reception of Christianity. (See 
Prescott, p. 60, note.) 

But there was no adequate perception of Christian 
truth in their minds, and mere baptism did not 
make them real Christians, as we shall see. 

Lieutenant Page, of the United States Navy, who 
has recently explored the La Plata under a Govern- 
ment commission, has made a very readable and, in 
many respects, valuable book, which I commend to 
the public. The Lieutenant has entered into a set 
defense of the Jesuit Missions in Paraguay, and his 
book is the more valuable because he makes the 
Jesuit accounts of their own work the basis of his 
narrative, discarding all unfriendly testimony, even 
though coming from other ecclesiastics of the same 



Errors of the Papacy. 527 

Church. He tells us that those missionaries made 
good use of the legend concerning Thomas, the 
apostle of America. 

"About half a century from the discovery of the Western 
continent, and nine years after the followers of Loyola had been 
organized into a religious body, a few Portuguese Jesuits, ac- 
companying the expedition of Don Thomas de Soza, Governor 
of Brazil, landed at Bahia de todos los Santos. They were the 
first of that order destined to fulfill the duties of the mission- 
ary among the aborigines of South America ; and, faithful to 
their vocation, they were soon engaged in the arduous task of 
converting them to Christianity. These fathers are supposed 
to have facilitated their labors by a pious fraud. They came 
as the descendants of Thomas, the apostle of Christ, as chosen 
delegates to proclaim eternal peace and happiness to all who 
would bow to the cross, and come within the pale of the great 
Mother Church. 

" The supernatural and the marvelous are alluring to minds 
darkened by ignorance and superstition. Savonarola compre- 
hended the springs of human impulse when he declared to a 
bigoted multitude that he was gifted with something more 
than the ordinary powers of man, for strange was the devotion 
of his followers, even to the fiery ordeal. So also did the In- 
dians believe that St. Thomas, the subject of every missionary s 
discourse, had assumed the guardianship of the land. So did 
they credit and adopt, as one always familiar to them, the tra- 
dition to which the Jesuitic teachings gave rise — that St. Thomas 
had landed on the coast of Brazil, journeyed through the vast 
country of the Guarani race, preaching, cross in hand. Chris- 
tianizing savages, and ta?ning wild beasts ; then that he trav- 
ersed the grassy deserts of the Grand Chaco ; and finally crossed 
the Andes into Peru, where he must have descended, like'the 
setting sun, into the Pacific, as we hear of him no further. There 
was still another mystery connected with this mission of the 
apostle. // was taught and believed that the cross he bore had 
been hidden by some unconverted Indians in a lake near Chi- 
quisaca, and there found by a Padre Sarmiento." (P. 467.) 



528 Lecture XXI. 

The Lieutenant justifies these modes of convert- 
ing the heathen. He says : '' Let the means serve 
the end; and, though the Fathers may, at times, be 
found erring from a path strictly scrupulous, let it be 
borne in mind that it \?, for purposes not unworthy 
of good men." Then we are to understand that in 
order to be a good missionary among the rude hea- 
then, a man must begin with falsehood to meet the 
demand of superstition. Men must be brought to 
the truth hy fraud. God pity the missionary, if he 
must become such a man as that. 

There were many Spanish and Portuguese settle- 
ments in South America when the Jesuits arrived, 
and these were served by priests, chiefly, I believe, 
of the Dominican and Franciscan orders. It was 
the custom of the Europeans to reduce the Indians 
to slavery. In this they were countenanced by 
their priests. The Jesuits, whose sole business was 
to convert the natives, saw in a moment that, to 
succeed, they must take their part against their en- 
emies. It soon came to be understood that the 
Jesuit was the Indian's friend, and would do all in 
his power to protect him against kidnappers. And 
the missionaries did find means to secure the Para- 
guay Indians against the designs of their enemies ; 
and, whatever the original design, we will honor 
them for this. But, in thus thwarting the interests 
of the colonists, they came into collision with the 
Europeans and their priests. And then there was 
presented an instructive lesson in Church unity. The 
bitterest sectarian wranglers might get a lesson from 
the malignity of these priests of the infallible Church 
against each other. It was a war of extermination — 



Errors of the Papacy. 529 

the bishops and laymen against the Jesuits. Blood 
flowed and churches were rifled. (See Page's La 
Plata, pp. 580-491.) 

Thus the Jesuits became completely identified 
with the Indians of Paraguay, and were regarded 
by them as their benefactors. The grateful natives 
yielded themselves up to the authority of the fa- 
thers, and the result was the far-famed Paraguay 
missions, of which the Jesuits constructed their deau 
ideal of a Christian State. And Lieutenant Page is 
enthusiastic in his admiration of it. Nevertheless, 
we are indebted to him for the facts brought within 
the reach of the public. I commend his book to 
you. He tells us that those Indians became very 
highly civilized. And the facts which he presents 
may serve to show us what that civilization con- 
sisted of. 

These facts are that the Jesuits took possession 
of the Indians, body and soul. They became very 
religious in their way. Priests were never held in 
higher veneration, and the formalities of the Romish 
worship were never more heartily observed. To 
some extent they were educated : how far I know 
not. 

But if the Jesuits had preserved them against kid- 
napping and forced slavery, they yielded themselves 
up to complete servitude to their benefactors. They 
lived, and acted, and labored under the direction of 
the priests. Every mission was a community, a 
sort of large family, with two priests at the head. 
One had charge of its spiritual, and the other of its 
temporal, affairs. There was no individual propri- 
etorship amongst them. They never came to act 



530 Lecture XXI. 

for themseh't's. If x.\\c\ were allowed to work on 
their individual account two or three days in a week, 
they might sell the product of their labors only to 
the Church. They were not allowed any intercourse 
wiih the world. ThoN' wore not e\en permitted to 
learn the Spanish language. The reason given was 
that they might be protected from the corruptions 
of the Spanish. And y^t the Spanish wore all good 
Romanists ! (La Plata, chap, xxviii.") 

Now. nu' friends, are these the boasted works of 
that Church which is to convert the world? Is 
this the process b)' which that groat end is to 
bo attained ? Is this the best that Christianit\- can 
do tor the heathen? Is it tiio triumph of religion 
to elevate barbarians to the position of good, docile 
servants of a half-secular priesthood? 

Even if it is. the Paraguay experiment has proved 
a failure. It seems that Rome herself could furnish 
no missionaries, except the Jesuits, who could take 
care of Taiagua)'. I'pon the expulsion of the Jesu- 
its, the Franciscans took their places, and our au- 
thor says, the natives then '^ re/a/se'd rapidly into 
btxrharismy (^Fp. 549-50.'! So we are to under- 
stand that it is not the Romish Church, but only 
the Jtsuits, that can Christianize and civilize the 
heathen, or even keep them civiliseti ! 

For two hundred \*ears the Faiaguay Indians 
were in the hands of the Jesuits, who had things all 
their ow a way, and these model missionaries dur- 
ing that long period failed to civilize them up to a 
point where they could stay civiiimd. The truth is, 
that they attempted here to realize the ideaJ of their 
Church — the complete aseendemy of the priest. The 



Errors of the Papacy. 531 

result is before the world. They made a nation of 
docile devotees — but not of mot. They were not 
trained to think, and manage, and work for them- 
selves. The result was what any one might have an- 
ticipated. So soon as their masters were taken away 
from them, and they were thrown upon their own re- 
sources, they fell back toward their own barbarism. 

A priest in one of the Atlantic States said to a 
gentleman recently, *' We intend to make a Para- 
guay of Missouri ! " May that day not be till after 
the millennium ! 

My friends, what is the condition of Spanish 
America at large to-day ? It is a fact, known to 
the world, that Christianity and European civiliza- 
tion are a miserable failure there. And the reason 
of the failure is, that Christianity was introduced 
there under a deplorably corrupted form. It is not 
Christianity — it is Romanism, 

That portion of our continent ought to be the 
garden of the world. Nature has done her best 
there. Take it at large, and the globe does not 
furnish its parallel in climatic benignity. A more 
generous soil over so large an extent of territory 
never yielded to the solicitation of culture. If we 
are to believe official accounts, nature has never 
furnished so many highways for commerce any- 
where as in South America. But there it lies, 
more than three hundred years after its occupa- 
tion by Europeans, undeveloped still. And now, 
at this late day, the Government of the United 
States must equip and send out expeditions to ex- 
plore its unrivaled rivers, and tell the world what 

golden harvests await the hand of industry and 
34 



532 Lecture XXI. 

enterprise in that terra incognita. It is the curse of 
a rehgion that represses the energies of the human 
mind, that rests on South America. Spain fell un- 
der it, and her colonies shared the fate of her tor- 
pidity. It is but lately that they have freed them- 
selves from the mother country, and are, many of 
them, making the experiment of self-government. 
They have had a stormy sea, so far. Intestine wars 
have rent them. But there is hope. A better day 
seems to be dawning. More liberal influences 
are creeping in, and we may hope that the day is 
not remote when a true evangelism will spread its 
life over that domain of fertility and beauty. 

For the present, Lieut. Page assures us that, at 
least, the ladies of South America are beautiful, en- 
dowed with a charming natural gracefulness, dance 
divinely, and actually wear shoes and stockings ! 

Stevens' Travels in Central America, Chiapas and 
Yucatan, give a lively picture of the religious and 
social life of the people. You are obliged to feel, 
upon reading it, that their religion is addressed to 
the imagination, and that it is an idolatry. The 
religion of the Indians consists of '* the mystic rites 
of Catholicism, engrafted upon the superstitions of 
their fathers.'' (Stevens, vol. i, p. 62.) At Gualan 
the traveler encountered the '' Santa Lucia," a pretty 
wax doll in fine clothes, which was carried about 
over the country for the benefit of such unmarried 
persons as might be unhappy in their '' single 
blessedness." She enjoys the reputation of being 
** one of the holiest saints in the calendar." Her 
peculiar province is to dispose of the affections. 
Any single person praying to her for a partner in 



Errors of the Papacy. 533 

life's destinies is sure to get the very person asked 
for, if that person be not already married. At pp. 
61, 66, vol. I, Stevens gives a lively account of the 
commotion into which the town was thrown by the 
presence of this little goddess of hearts, and of the 
devotions at her tender shrine which he witnessed. 
One man prayed to her in such an agony that the 
sweat gushed out over his face and stood in drops. 
Prayers over, the youngsters fell a-dancing, and 
flirting, and cooing, and passing love potions from 
lip to lip, all of which was kept up far into the 
" witching time o' night," and match-making seemed 
inevitable. To say nothing of the corrupt character 
of that religion which tolerates such fanaticism, 
what a low grade of civilization does it disclose ! 

Central America has its /wfy place, '* the great 
Church of the Pilgrimage," at Esquipulas. On 
the fifteenth of January it is visited by pilgrims 
even from Peru and Mexico, " the latter," says 
Stevens, "being a journey not exceeded in hard- 
ships by the pilgrimage to Mecca." (vol. I, p. 168.) 
The pilgrimage accomplished, the devotee ascends 
the steps of the temple of '' our Lord of Esquipu- 
las," on his knees, or bearing a heavy cross ; sees, 
in a rich shrine, an image of our Saviour on the 
cross, which he is not permitted to touch, and goes 
away, ''contented in obtaining a piece of ribbon, 
stamped with the words, * Duke nombre de Jesus.' " 
(Page 170.) 

At Gualan, where Stevens met with St. Lucia, he 
called on the padre, or priest, a very comfortable 
specimen of the genus homo, who, in answer to his 
question if the Indians were all Christians, " said 



534 LECTrKi XXl. 

tluu thoy wore devout And religious, and had .; ^i^ri\2/ 
rts/^rct for the priests and saints^ Ihc padre " had 
a larg'e household of woiwen and children : but as to 
the relation in which. the\- stood to him ," ■ 
iiifftrcdr 1 beUeve it is no unconunon thin^; tor 
the priests of Spanish America to have such house- 
holds. Many ^^i them are laborious men in their 
calliui;". but the elevated purity of the Christian lite 
is above them. A i^entlen^an now present, formerly 
a sailor, tells me ho has met priests at the gMming^ 
table in Cuba. Where such is the tiioral character 
of the priests you can look tor nothing better tVom 
the people. 

Aecordiui^iy. priests and people pass from the 
gamin*;- table to the religious festival, and mix up 
their sins and their pra\ers in the most heterogeneous 
wa\". Like the Tharisee. their ceremonial piety 
makes up (or the want of moral puiitx". There is 
nothing that the Central American delights in more 
than processivMi^ and festivals, A religious festival 
is an occasivMi of promiscuous rejoicing. If I had 
time, I would love to give you a long extract or two 
from Stevens, illustrative of this. Preaching, and 
mass, and the tiring of rockets and fire-crackers, are 
all parts of the progranune. There is one grotesque 
peculiarity in the religious processions of this coun- 
try*. The infernal regions are always represented 
in them. A number of persons in ugly masks repre- 
sent so many devils, without which no such an 
occasion is acceptable to the Indians. (^See Stevens, 
vol. I, pp. 210-220.) 

These scenes of religious tVstivity are liberally 
mixed in with Sunday cock-fights and bull-tights, at 



Errors of thk Papacy. 535 

which the padres are present as interested spectators. 
(Stevens, vol. 1, pj). 260--263, and 298-301.) 

And this is the religion to which so large a portion 
of our continent has been consecrated by the boasted 
Romish missionary achievements. These are the 
specimens of her work to which we are pointed as 
evidences of her divine mission and pledges of the 
world's conversion through her agency. If she goes 
on converting the world after this style, other mis- 
sionaries must follow in her footsteps, and convert 
it over again. 

I have spoken of the broils between the Jesuits 
and other orders of the priesthood in South America. 
Jesuits, Dominicans and Franciscans played a game 
about the same time on the other side of the ocean, 
in which all were losers. Admitted to Japan, and 
received with much confidence at court, they were 
not content with pursuing their missionary labors 
in a peaceful way, but, concocting intrigues, and 
wrangling among themselves, their sinister designs 
were at last discovered to the Government by 
means of intercepted correspondence. The result 
was fatal, not only to them, but to the Christian 
cause which they ostensibly represented. Up to 
that time every facility was offered to the mission- 
ary. Christianity had a fair field in Japan. But 
the perfidious schemes of Romanist missionaries 
once found out, created such a revulsion throughout 
the empire that the gates were shut and double- 
barred against the name of Christ for centuries. 
Christianity has the Romish priests to thank for all 
the disgust which the name of the blessed Jesus has 
for so long a time excited in that vast empire. And 



53^ Lecture XXI. 

these are the men to whom we must look for the 
world's conversion ! (See Perry's Expedition to 
Japan, vol. i, pp. 23-25.) 

In China the Jesuits were pliant, and disposed to 
allow the idolaters a compromise, and indulge a 
tinge of paganism, if they would only be baptized 
and assume the Christian name. Their supple policy 
promised large success. But the case was decided 
against them at Rome, and the budding prospects 
opening in the Celestial Empire ripened into a com- 
paratively meagre harvest. 

St. Francis Xavier became the apostle of India. 
He was a heroic man, and, like Cortes, had a great 
soul. His blemishes are to be attributed more to 
the system under which he was fashioned to so 
strange a mold, than to the man himself. Daring 
as any knight of the days of errantry, he gave his 
whole being to the enterprise of converting the 
heathen to his Church. But, alas ! his fervent spirit 
had been perverted. Pious frauds, for holy Christian 
purposes, were good. The superstitious heathen 
must have miracles, and Xavier supplied them. 
Away off on the shores of India, among the ignorant 
multitudes, he worked miracles — at least we are 
told so — in great numbers. And the heathen were 
converted. But, like the Mexican and South 
American converts, they were made too fast, and 
remained half heathen still. They were baptized, 
but knew not the Christ in whose name they received 
the holy rite. 

From what has been said we may form some just 
idea as to what the Roman missions, within the last 
three hundred years, have done for religion and 



Errors of the Tapacy. 537 

civilization. Taking our own continent as the ex- 
ample, the facts here being more accessible, we may 
state the following results : 

1. The Roman missionaries, being, like Saul of 
Tarsus before his conversion, exceedingly zealous of 
the traditions of their fathers, have been an enter- 
prising class of men, often exploring new countries, 
and have contributed something to the science of 
geography. In Spanish America the}^ have also the 
honor of having added jalap and the Jesuit's bark 
to materia 'inedica. 

2. When Mexico was conquered, the natives were 
in the habit of offering human victims to the god of 
war, and of eating the flesh of those who had been 
so offered. To this practice the introduction of the 
Roman religion put a stop. But it must be re- 
membered that the Roman Church, also, sacrificed 
human victims to the god of intolerance. And Pres- 
cott well observes that there was this difference in 
favor of the Mexican : that his victim was killed 
with as little pain as might be, and put out of his 
sufferings with dispatch, while, at the same time, it 
was an honorable death. But the Romish priests 
made their victims infamous, and sacrificed them 
with exquisite and long-continued torture. The 
only point in the comparison in favor of the Roman 
priest is that he did not eat his victim, and whether 
this is sufficient to turn the result of the comparison 
in his favor might admit of an argument. 

3. There was a very substantial civilization in 
Mexico at the time of the conquest. I refer you to 
the first part of Prescott's great work, which alniost 
any one may obtain. They had not letters, it is 



538 Lecture XXL 

true, but they had voluminous records in hiero- 
glyphic character, which the superstitious ecclesias- 
tics of Rome destroyed, having them burned, in 
"mountain heaps," under the impression that they 
were the product of satanic agency. Thus was the 
history, the literature, the science of a cultivated 
people swept away by the bigotr)^ of these mission- 
aries. Industry, in its various useful branches, 
flourished to a very high degree ; agriculture and 
the mechanic arts were carried to an extent which 
supported a dense population in plenty, and many 
of them in elegance. With the single exception of 
human sacrifice, and the eating of the victims, (for 
they appear not to have eaten any human flesh, ex- 
cept such as had been offered to the god.) and that 
they were a warlike people, Mexican life seems to 
have been secure and happy. They had a system 
of judiciary that might be re-established there to- 
day, in many respects, with adv'antage. 

The Mexican is fading. His cities are, many of 
them, dwindled to villages. '' His energies are 
broken." His fields are comparatively uncultivated. 
The physical development of the country is far be- 
low what it was when the foot of the Spaniard first 
trod the teeming soil. 

As to religion, images are in the temples now, as 
formerly, improved in one respect — they are better 
specimens of art. But what has religion done for 
the Mexican, in point of morality? In point of 
good gov-ernment ? What advance is there, in the 
security of person and property, since the Aztec 
armies swept the plains of Anahuac ? None, none. 
What increase in personal intelligence, virtue and 



Errors of the Papacy. 539 

comfort among the masses? None. Quite there- 
verse. Mexico, as a State, is to-day less powerful, 
less prosperous, less secure, less happy, than when 
the last Montezuma reigned. 

Indeed, the enlightened traveler walks amid the 
ruins of the polite, imperial Tezcuco with the feel- 
ing that the monuments of a past civilization are 
lamenting their departed glory, dumb accusers of 
the indolence and degeneracy of the life that vege- 
tates amid such decaying splendor. 

In one word, civil and physical development in 
Spanish America, measured by the present standard 
of progress, is extremely low ; and religion is more 
upon almost any other model than that of the Chris- 
tian Scriptures. Romanism took possession of it, 
and it was doomed. 

Just when the best portions of Europe developed 
beyond the Papal leading-strings, and an empire 
escaped from the grasp of the Church, the Spaniard 
gave her another empire. Defeated by the civiliza- 
tion that could bear her usurpations and corruptions 
no longer, she made up her losses by conquests in 
the New World. She conquered the Indians, and 
here was a noble field in which she might have re- 
trieved her character. Here she was to develop on 
a virgin soil, and establish institutions alongside 
those which were to be the outgrowth of Protest- 
antism. Her resources were vast, her agencies in- 
numerable. Let her bring out, in the New World, 
all her vast capacity for the promotion of human 
happiness. The eyes of an enlightened world are 
looking to the result. 

Rome had full scope for her operations. Con- 



540 Lecture XXL. 

quered nations were in her hands, to be molded to 
her will. Her bigoted adherents were the only Eu- 
ropeans that mingled with the native populations. 
There was nothing outside to thwart her will. 

She conquered in America when she lost in Eu- 
rope. But even that conquest was a defeat. It has 
but proven to the world her impotency in the great 
work of Christianizing men. Any high style of 
civilization and evangelism is above the level of her 
institutions and her peculiar dogmas. Active and 
enterprising in her ecclesiastical organism, she can 
yet produce no great result for humanity. 

Yes, she triumphed in Spanish America. But it 
was a triumph over man, not/<?rhim. She triumphed, 
and the great interests of our race withered under 
her sceptre. She triumphed. Raise a statue to 
commemorate her deeds, and weave a chaplet for 
the queenly brow ; weave it of nightshade, and 
cypress, and the weeping willow ; let her right hand 
bear aloft a banner — a red banner ; let her stand 
upon some lofty spur of the Andes, and exhibit to 
mankind this motto, inscribed in dusky characters 
on the banner — '* I triumph by the downfall of men." 



Errors of the Papacy. 541 



LECTURE XXII. 

THE MISSION OF PROTESTANTISM. 

" And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the 
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and 
to eveiy nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a 
loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him ; for the hour of his 
judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, 
and the sea, and the fountains of waters." — Rev. xiv, 6, 7. 

IN the opinion of many, this is a prophetic an- 
nouncement of the Reformation of the sixteenth 
century. At any rate, it expresses well the great 
leading fact of that movement — the revival o{ preach- 
ing — and is an appropriate text, therefore, for my 
present topic — the Mission of Protestantism. 

It is pertinent to the general object of these lect- 
ures to ask, What has Protestantism done for the 
world } What is it doing now 1 What is it Hkely to 
do hereafter 1 

What I shall say first has respect to the purely re- 
ligious aspect of the question. In this respect. Prot- 
estantism has swept aside the mass of false dogmas 
which burdened and blighted the Church, and has 
reasserted the essential evangelism of the New Test- 
ament. 

The preaching of the gospel had fallen into very 
general disuse. The leading institution of the Church, 
a preaching ministry, had been lost. The doctrines of 
transubstantiation and of the sacrifice of the mass 



542 Lecture XXII. 

had turned the ministry into a priesthood ; and, as 
Ranke assures us, this usurped function had dis- 
placed the true. The chief aggressive agency of the 
Church is the preaching of the gospel. It is by this 
means that Christianity is diffused. 

Our Lord established both a conservative and an 
aggressive agency in the Church. The conservative 
agency is the written word — the aggressive, as I have 
said, is tht preaching of that word by the living min- 
ister. It were presumption to say which is the more 
important, the preservation of the truth uncorrupted, 
or the promulgation of it effectively amongst men. 
Without the former the latter could not be accom- 
plished, and without the latter the former would be 
without results. You will readily perceive that be- 
fore the art of printing was in use, oral instruction 
must have been the means by which the gospel was 
conveyed to the masses. It was rare that a laboring 
man could read ; and, even if he could, the price of 
books was beyond liis means. But copies of the 
Bible were at hand in every place, and to them the 
Church owed \h^ preservation of the truth. Written 
records are as nearly immutable as any thing on 
earth can be, and, under the care and providence of 
God, his Word is thus secured to the latest genera- 
tions of the world. Tradition, like the ever-changing 
dyes of the chameleon, is never to-day what it will 
be to-morrow, nor is it in one place what it is in an- 
othen The so-called traditions of the Roman Church 
owe whatever of stability they possess to the fact 
that they have been reduced to written form, and 
committed to the keeping of historical records. 



Errors of the Papacy. 543 

One might suppose that upon the multiplication of 
copies of the Holy Scriptures preaching would be- 
come less essential. But our Lord established that 
agency for all time ; and even now, when a Bible 
may be bought for twenty-five cents, and a New 
Testament for ten, preaching is an essential agency 
of the gospel. The busy, thoughtless world must be 
plied with active zeal, and the influences of piety 
must be thrown constantly around those who are in- 
attentive to the interests of eternity. 

As the conservator of divine truth, the Bible serves 
a two-fold purpose. It is, first, the text- book of the 
minister. From it he derives his knowledge of God, 
and of the way of life, which he is to convey to others. 
And, secondly, it secures the layman against any 
false teaching, if the minister should fall into heresy. 
Both minister and layman approach the same ulti- 
mate standard of truth, and thus every lover of the 
truth is made secure. 

The first thing which the Reformation did was to 
repudiate tradition. The various dogmas which tra- 
dition had foisted into the Christian creed were tried 
by the standard of the written word, and found to be 
spurious. Most of the dogmas originating thus were 
the growth of the Middle Ages. Tradition was pro- 
lific in that period. Its fecundity was indeed aston- 
ishing. According to the laborious and accurate his- 
torian, Ranke, the chief traditions of the Papacy 
came into general credit in the thirteenth century. 
Their germ, to be sure, existed at an earlier day. 
But they were not imposed upon the whole Church, 
and submitted to by it, until that time. The very 



544 Lecture XXII. 

word, transubstantiation, came into use in the begin- 
ning: of the thirteenth century. The vvithholdins: of 
the cup from the laity dates from the same period. 
The seven sacraments took their form at that time, 
and the priest swallowed up the preacher. Confes- 
sion to a priest at least once a year, imposed as of 
binding obligation at this period, made the confes- 
sional what it is. The priest became lord of con- 
sciences, and Romanism completely triumphed over 
Christianity. 

To deliver the Church from this terrible bondage 
was the first great achievement of the religious move- 
ment of the sixteenth century. The unsightly crea- 
tions of an age of ignorance and superstition were 
exposed in the light of the pure Word of God, and 
they were at once detected, and spurned by minds 
waking up out of the torpor of ages. 

The necessary consequence of this was the rejec- 
tion of the dogma of infallibility. For if the tradi- 
tions put forth by the Church were untrue, the 
Church was liable to err, and ^<7t/ erred. It was not 
a mere possibility that this Church might lead men 
astray, nor even simply a probability. It was 2i fact 
that she had gone the length of ruinous heresy in her 
traditions. Henceforth her mere assertion can no 
more be taken in proof of any doctrine. 

The corollary of this is the right of private judg- 
ment in matters of faith. There is no half-way 
ground between the doctrine of infallibility and the 
ri»ht of private judgment. If the one is true, the 
other is false. They are absolutely and wholly in- 
compatible. There can be no compromise. If the 



Errors of the Papacy. 545 

Church is infallible, no man has the right to question 
her decisions. But if she is not infallible, then there 
is no tribunal of appeal but the Bible, and to that 
every man must go in the last resort, and learn its 
decisions for himself. If you direct him to an au- 
thoritative interpreter, that interpreter must be infal- 
lible, or he can be of no service, and you then come 
back to the ground of Rome. Protestantism, detect- 
ing the absurdity of the Roman claims, in the light 
of facts was allowed no choice. To embrace the 
right of private judgment was imperative. 

In doing this Protestantism gave the Bible to the 
world again. According to the Romanist theory, 
there was no use for the Bible out amongst men. 
There was, indeed, scarcely any use for it anywhere. 
Surely an infallible Church needs no Bible ! Even 
priests themselves, many of them, never read it. It 
did not form so much as a text-book in the education 
of a priest. It was a strange book to Luther when 
he took orders. The doctrine of infallibility had 
completely cast the Holy Scriptures into the shade. 
Men, priests and laymen, learned religion from the 
Church. Logic drives you to the one or the other of 
these propositions, and allows you no resting-place 
between them. Protestantism asserted that it was 
to be learned from the Bible. The Word of God 
came out of its hiding-place and assumed its legiti- 
mate authority again. This is, indeed, the great 
work of Reformation. The rest all follows inevitably. 
Once under the direct instruction of the Divine 
Teacher, the truth-loving will come to the truth. 

The difference between Romanism and Protestant- 



54^ Lecture XXII. 

ism at this point is this : The former makes man ac- 
countable to the Church for his faith, while the latter 
makes him accountable to God. 

Having given the Bible to the world, Protestantism 
had then only to get its dogmas from that Book. 
And the first of those which was asserted with such 
emphasis was the doctrine oi justification b^' faith. 

The trouble with Romanism, you must remember, 
was not so much that it had formulated any denial 
of the great doctrines of the Word of God, as that it 
had intruded into the creed other doctrines which 
rendered them inoperative. So the doctrine of justi- 
fication by faith had been rather lost sight of than 
denied. It certainly had disappeared from the teach- 
ing of the Church. Penances and self-mortifications, 
and meritorious works, and the interposition of the 
saints, and the efficacy of the sacraments, had dis- 
placed it. Trusting in the merits of Christ alone for 
salvation was out of the question in the Roman 
theory. The sacraments had an efficacy of their 
own, and good works a merit, and these were taken 
into the account in a man's justification before God. 
Thus was the atonement invaded. Salvation was 
placed, in part, on other merit than that of Christ. 
The petiitent sinner was taught to trust, in part, in 
the sacraments, and the satisfaction of penances, and 
the good offices of the Virgin and other saints. The 
cross was thus obscured. 

And this hiding of the cross was one of the chief 
crimes of the Papacy. It may seem strange that 
where there was a cross in every church, and an im- 
age of the Saviour on it, the true cross itself, the doc- 



Errors of the Papacy. 547 

trine of the cross, should have become corrupted. 
But the image itself was a corruption, and its pres- 
ence could avail nothing for good. The cross v^^as 
obscured by the sacrifice of the mass, a false sacri- 
fice, which was no sacrifice at all. Faith was taken 
possession of by a fiction, and was, therefore, a de- 
lusion. And, just to the extent to which this delu- 
sion prevailed, the true faith was weakened. '* Christ 
crucified " gave way to Christ in the mass. Protest- 
antism restored the cross. The true central point 
of the Christian system was found. The crucified 
Redeemer took his place in the Christian faith. 
Christian ministers again knew nothing save Jesus 
Christ and him crucified. The one only offering of 
the cross, a full atonement for sin, is the grand basis 
of the doctrine of justification by faith. The one 
follows necessarily from the other in logic, as in 
fact, in the Christian revelation. There is no other 
satisfaction for sin, there can be no other ; and he 
who reposes, even in part, upon any other, puts his 
trust in falsehood, and dishonors Christ. Whether 
that other be any human work, or any pretended 
offering of Christ, which is no offering of him in 
fact, by detracting from the true atonement, it dis- 
honors the sufferer of Calvary. 

The Protestant, spurning the; false light of tradi- 
tion, and guided by the Bible alone^ comes directly 
to the cross. Nothing lies between him and it. 
Nothing shades it. He sees thei dying Christ, the 
only hope of a lost soul, trusts in him, and finds sal- 
vation. Nothing divides his trust. Nothing shares 

the honors of Christ. 
35 



54S Lecture XXII. 

Thus, through Christ, Protestantism found its way 
to God. It brought men directly to the cross, and 
to the " blood which makes the wounded whole," and 
they found feacf. Personal assurance of salvation 
was the result. An assurance that comes from God 
himself, and not from any corporate interposition 
between the soul and its Maker. In solemn audience 
with God, through the mediation of his Son, the pen- 
itent receives divine absolution, and ** the Spirit itself 
beareth witness with his spirit that he is a child of 
God." (Rom viii, i6.) Here is the real security of the 
Christian. When the S/> in t of God becomes the wit- 
ness of his acceptance, he knows that all is well. Nor 
is he exposed to fanaticism in this, if only he has his 
Bible at hand. For every department oi Christian 
life and privilege is so fully defined that he is com- 
pletelv guarded at every point. No mere emotion 
can be interpreted into a Divine assurance, unless it 
be accompanied by the concurrent evidence of a godly 
life. If we " love God, and keep his commandments," 
and they " are not grievous : " if we have delight in the 
ways of God. wc are ready for the voice of his Spirit, 
assuring us of peace. For the Word of God aft'ords 
no shelter nor excuse for the habitual sinner. God's 
people are /lo/r. There is no other such guard against 
any religious confidence and pretention, while vet the 
life is impure, as that which the Word of God fur- 
nishes. No reader of the Bible can be at peace in 
his sins. And this is the glory of Protestantism, that 
it allows the Bible to dogmatize. Its dogmas most 
efiectually control the Christian life, and break up all 
false security. While it directs the soul to God for 



Errors of the Papacy. 549 

the inner testimony of the Spirit to the fact of adop- 
tion, it at the same time secures him against the wild, 
unbridled confidence of the fanatic, by the invariable 
connection which it establishes between holiness and 
all the legitimate religious consciousness. 

Hence, in intimate connection with the witness of 
the Spirit is the doctrine of the new birth, to which I 
have so often directed your minds. It belonged to 
the work of Protestantism to restore this great fact 
to its place in the Christian creed. The renewing 
grace of the Holy Spirit is the only real source of 
godliness and purity. In the attempt to make men 
godly by other means, through the sacraments, 
and ecclesiastical interposition and external aid, Ro- 
manism most signally failed. Licentious zealots 
might be made by such means, but not holy men. 
The renewing Spirit of God must do its vvork upon 
the human heart before it can be holy. This great 
fact, lost sight of in the Roman system, was at once 
discovered when the Bible began to dogmatize. Men 
saw that they must come to God. Thty felt that they 
were impotent in the great work of salvation. They 
must have Divine aid. The Spirit of all grace must 
purge away the innate sinfulness of their natures. 
They appeared all unholy in the light of the Divine 
law, when that light was permitted to shine directly 
upon them. It brought them to their senses. They 
saw their sin and doom. Depraved, condemned, help- 
less, hopeless, they looked to the Cross. There was 
their only help. But, thank God, it was all they 
needed. Through it they might come to God and find 
him gracious. Through it they might ask the Father, 



550 Lecture XXII. 

and find him more ready to give the Holy Spirit to the 
suppliant than a father is to give bread to his child. 
What a boon was bestowed upon mankind ! 

The result of Protestantism, in restoring good 
works to their true position in the Christian life, was 
most remarkable. 

Good works are of two classes, and it is necessary 
to understand the distinction in order to appreciate 
the ground occupied respectively by Romanism and 
Protestantism. 

First. There are works of piety. The worship of 
God, and the observance of all strictly religious du- 
ties, are of this class. Upon this class of works the 
Roman Church not only lays great stress, but has 
also enlarged the list of specific observances far be- 
yond the Scripture code. The whole range of self- 
inflictions, penances, saints' days, and the like, is of 
her own contrivance. 

Secondly. Works of morality. These embrace all 
that is expressed in the phrase /^/r/Vj of life. 

I certainly do no injustice to the Roman Church 
by saying that of these two classes of good works her 
theory gives the precedence to the first. The theory, 
in its general bearings upon the subject of works, is 
pecuhar, and wholly out of keeping with the spirit 
and teachings of the Christian system. 

First. It makes good works, particularly works of 
piety, and more especially penances, in part, at least, 
ground and condition of pardon. As I have already 
shown, this displaces Christ as the only Saviour, 
and the merit of his passion as the only ground 
of our pardon. It strikes directly at the root of the 



Errors of the Papacy. 551 

Christian system. Pardon is placed on false grounds, 
and the confidence which rests there must be a mere 
delusion. 

Secondly. While good works, especially of one 
class, are unduly exalted in one respect, they are most 
unfortunately disparaged in another. And especially 
are works of morality disparaged, in the general ec- 
clesiastical adm.inistration. Was it ever known that 
any man was excommunicated from the Church of 
Rome because he led a dissolute life ? Provided only 
he is sufficiently deferential to the priests, and now 
and then, perhaps, visits the confessional, may not a 
man be habitually profligate to the last degree, and 
live and die in the Chnrch — going into the next world 
with the benefit of the last unction ! 

Thirdly. Disobedience to the Church is made a 
more deadly offense than disobedience to God. For 
when a man denies one single one of the dogmas 
which the Church commands him, without speedy re- 
traction, he must be excommunicated. And you ob- 
serve, it is not the infidel alone, the man who rejects 
the plain and essential teachings of Scripture, against 
whom she so promptly fulminates the anathemas 
of excommunication. A man may most reverently 
receive all that is contained in the Scriptures, yet if 
he shall refuse to believe any of the dogmas of the 
Roman Church, no matter how absurd or contra- 
dictory to the Scriptures, he is a heretic, and must 
be cut off. Thus the conscientious, self-denying, 
devout believer in Jesus, and in his word, is dishon- 
ored, and cast off, if, of all the multiplied articles of 
the Roman creed, he is compelled to deny one ; while 



552 Lecture XXII. 

the debauchee, who, without thought or care, admits 
them all, is received and accredited as one of the 
" faithful." 

The necessary effect of all this upon the popular 
mind must inevitably be to lessen, fatally, the obliga- 
tions of the moral law. Hence, the great number of 
persons in that communion living loosely, and never 
so much as going to confession until death ap- 
proaches. 

In striking contrast with this is the Scripture theory 
of works, received without exception from the very 
beginning of the Protestant movement. It may be 
briefly stated as follows : 

First. Good works have no value in obtaining par- 
don. None whatever. As looking to that objecty they 
are utterly worthless. The atonement, the merit of 
Christ, fills the whole sphere. It is the only conceiv- 
able reason why sin should be pardoned. No good 
works of the sinner, following his crime, can operate 
to relax the claims of justice upon him. No vigils, 
nor penances, nor ascetic inflictions, can add the 
weight of a feather to th2 atonement. It is all-suffi- 
cient. Repentance and faith simply bring a man to 
the atonement, but when he comes there he is just as 
helpless and worthless, in the eyes of infinite purity, 
as if he had not come. His penitence may appeal to 
the Divine pity, but can avail nothing before the Di- 
vine justice. His former sin is none the less deserv- 
ing of the penalty than if he had not repented. The 
atonenie7it is the single available plea with him before 
ih^just tiibiinal of God. For this reason the teacher 
of religion, who obtains his instructions from the 



Errors of the Papacy. 553 

Bible, always directs the penitent away from his own 
works to Christ. 

In my hands no pi ice I bring, 
Simply to thy ci-oss I cling. 

Secondly. God requires of his people a holy life. The 
very object for which Christ came into the world was 
to " purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
good works." So that, while good works are not at all 
the ground of pardon, and can be of no service to the 
s,\x\Y\Qi' for that purpose, they are yet of incalculable 
service as an essential element of the Christian life. 
And though the favor of God is not to be purchased 
by them, yet it may be forfeited for the want of them. 
While the merit of Christ is the sole ground of the 
sinner's pardon, it is a man's own sins that form the 
ground of his condemnation. It is a fact, indeed, 
that a man's character, good or bad, cannot release 
him from the obligation to obey his Maker, and the 
supreme nature of those obligations renders it im- 
possible for him to render any excess of service at 
any moment, that may avail as an oftset to former 
delinquencies. It is for this reason that the atone- 
ment is necessary. But at the moment of pardon 
the demands of the law are in full force, and the sin- 
ner, saved by grace, is required to become an obedient 
son of God. It is all expressed in a nut-shell by the 
apostle : 

" For by grace are ye saved, through faith ; and that not of 
yourselves ; it is the gift of God ; not of works, lest any man 
should boast. For we are his workmanship created i7i Christ 
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that 
we should walk in them." (Eph. ii, 8, 9, 10.) 



554 Lecture XXII. 

Perhaps the whole work of salvation is nowhere so 
fully stated, in so few words, as here. All that I 
have said of good works is fully sustained in this sin- 
gle passage. Hence, amongst Protestants, the in- 
separable connection between the Christian character 
and a self-denying, godly life. A man is not a Chris- 
tian unless he is a good man. Right living is as es- 
sential as orthodox believing. This rescue of good 
works belongs, then, to the mission of Protestantism^ 
And a most important part of that mission it is. 
The value of true religion is in its results upon in- 
dividual character. So far as it makes good men, it 
blesses the world. All public benefits result from 
the aggregate of individual good. 

From what has been said it will appear that it is 
the tendency of Protestantism to individualize men. 
I beg to be understood with emphasis at this point. 

The successive usurpations of Romanism have re- 
duced religion to a sort of corporate character, in 
which the priests transact the business of salvation 
for all comers. A man has but to commit himself to 
the care of the priest, and the whole affair will be 
guided to the right issue. The loss of individuality y 
in feeling and responsibility, is the result. The du- 
ties of religion are discharged under the direction of 
the priest, and all is well. 

I have already, in former lectures, shown the re- 
sult of this, in its religious aspects. But its blighting 
consequences are seen and felt in every department 
of life. Humanity does not and cannot reach its 
highest development under the influence of such re- 
pression. It is only when men are thrown upon 



Errors of the Papacv. 555 

themselves, and each one feels that he has the prob- 
lem of existence to grapple with on his own account, 
under the eye of his Creator, that the soul will do 
its utmost. A man's resources are never developed 
until he is placed in a position to call them out. The 
employee, whose business is simply to follow direc- 
tions, may become very expert in doing what he is told, 
but he must feel a higher sort of responsibility before 
his capacity to achieve is fully brought out. This re- 
sults from an essential principle of our nature, and is 
of universal application. The Roman Church, then 
struck at the very springs of human progress when 
it undertook to relieve mankind of the responsibil- 
ity of settling questions of eternal import each for 
himself. A feeling of dependence takes possession 
of a man in reference to the most important business 
of existence ; and the consequence is inevitable. He 
becomes enervated. There may be individual excep- 
tions, but this is the tendency ; and the actual result 
in the majority of cases. 

The fact is patent. The world sees it. Intelligent 
Romanists must themselves feel it. Take Papal 
countries, the world over, and you will see that just 
in proportion to the dominancy of the Papal system 
they are behind the progress of Christendom. If 
some Papal countries take respectable rank among 
the nations of Europe, it is precisely those where the 
Papal power is least felt and recognized. No man 
of reading or observation can deny this. But that I 
am not uttering the rash assertions of party bitter- 
ness, I will read you an extract from Macaulay. How 
liberally he thought and wrote of the Roman Church 



55^ Lecture XXII. 

you know. What he says is from sober conviction 
a conviction produced by the most undeniable facts. 
He says :— 

" To stunt the growth of the human mind has been her chief 
object. Throughout Christendom, whatever advance has been 
made in knowledge, in freedom, in wealth, and in the arts of 
life, has been made in spite of her, and has eveiy-where been 
til inverse proportion to her power. The lo\eliest and most 
fertile provinces of Europe have, under her rule, been sunk in 
poverty, in political servitude, and in intellectual torpor ; while 
Protestant countries, once proverbial for sterility and barbar- 
ism, have been turned by skill and industry into gardens, and 
can boast of a long list of heroes and statesmen, philosophers 
and poets. Whoever, knowing what Italy and Scotland natu- 
rally are, and what, four hundred years ago, they actually were, 
shall now compare the country round Rome with the country 
round Edinburgh, will be able to form some judgment as to 
the tendency of Papal domination. The descent of Spain, 
once the first among monarchies, to the lowest depths of degra- 
dation ; the elevation of Holland, in spite of many natural disad- 
vantages, to a position which no Commonwealth so small has 
ever reached, teach the same lesson. Whoever passes, in Ger- 
many, from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant Principality, in 
Switzerland, from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant Canton, in 
Ireland, from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant county, finds 
that he has passed y>'^;« a lower to a higher grad'^ of civiliza- 
tion. On the other side of the Atlantic the same law prevails. 
The Protestants of the United States have left far behind them 
the Roman Catholics of Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. The Ro- 
man Catholics of Lower Canada remain inert ; while the whole 
Continent round them is in a ferment with Protestant activity 
and enterprise." 

A dark fatality accompanies Romanism wherever 
it goes. On both sides of the Atlantic it is the same, 
and the same on both sides of the equator. What is 



Errors of the Papacy. 557 

the deadly cause ? Is it not that which I have men- 
tioned already ? There is a blight on all human 
interests wherever it is in the ascendency. 

It eviscerates the soul. It destroys the feeling of 
individuality. Men do not live upon their own ac- 
count. The man is lost in the CJmrcJi. In point of 
fact, under this system, the Church was not made 
for man, but man for the Church. And so long as 
the heavy hand of the priest is on a community or 
a State, you may depend upon it, the people will be 
kept down. Depend upon it, men must stand out, 
in the full recognition of the fact of their own sepa- 
rate being, each to meet his own account, before the 
energies of their nature can be fully roused. This 
accounts for the torpidity of Papal countries. It is 
no accident. It is no temporary state of things. It 
is inherent in the system. 

The Papal system is a despotism. The leading 
principle of it is the very essence of despotism. The 
right of the hierarchy over the faith of the people, 
and over their lives, is a naked, unmodified tyranny. 
And this ecclesiastical despotism is the natural ally 
and prop of civil despotism. The more the people 
can be kept under, the more docile they will be. 
The worst despotisms of Europe are exactly those 
governments which sympathize most with the Pope 
at this crisis. They know well that the Papacy is 
the bulwark of their power. It is the last stronghold 
of tyranny. If it should be swept away, or lose 
its influence in politics, constitutional liberty would 
spread all over the continent. The throne would 
cease to be absolute. The people would discover 



55^ Lecture XXII. 

that tl-iey have rights, and would find means to as- 
sert them. 

At the very foundation of Protestantism lies the 
right of priv^ate judgment. It is the Ytvy frincifle of 
liberty. A people enjoying it must be conscious of 
the dignity of human nature. Their necks are not 
prepared for any yoke, except that of truth and jus- 
tice. They are law-abiding, fur they see that both 
the emergencies of society and the law of God re- 
quire that they should be so. But they will be heard 
and represented in the legislation of their country. 
They know that government is for the people, and 
not the people for government. " The right ot pri- 
vate judgment." Private men hwue rights, then. 
This very proposition, incorporated into their convic- 
tions, individualizes them, and makes them free. A 
people, penetrated by this sentiment, cannot be 
otherwise than free. The tree of despotism can 
never strike its roots into such a soil. 

And this conscious individuality and freedom are 
the mainspring of that activity and enterprise which, 
as we have seen, characterize Protestant communi- 
ties. Men have something to live for. Existence 
means something. The soul is not a block for eccle- 
siastical artists to chisel into such shape as may suit 
their fancy, and fashion to such uses as they may de- 
sire. It is fiot mere passive material. It has its 
own destiny to achieve, under the direction and 
blessing of the great God. There is no alternative 
but to act or perish. No corporation is responsible 
for its safety. With the aid of God's grace, it has 
itself to take care of. Activity becomes the law 



Errors of the Papacy. 559 

of such a spirit. It results inevitably. Under this 
principle humanity advances. A high style of civili- 
zation is the result. All the material and social in- 
terests of the world advance. It is obliged to be so. 
That this is no empty theorizing, the facts so graph- 
ically given by Macaulay abundantly attest. 

In the course of history a most striking contrast 
has been presented to the inspection of the world in 
our hemisphere. The two systems have done their 
best in America, North and South. As I said last 
week, Romanism had a hundred years the start. 
She had been long established in Spanish America 
before the foot of the first Pilgrim stepped upon Ply- 
mouth Rock. Under the most genial skies, and 
upon the most productive soil, she was making what 
she could of men. It was a stupendous failure. 

Protestantism sent her freemen to the more sterile 
North. I need not depict the result. I need not 
remind you of the proud distinction of the " stars and 
stripes," wherever they wave. In government, agri- 
culture, the useful arts, general education, commerce 
— in every thing, indeed, that conduces to material 
and social well-being — our country ranks with the 
very foremost nations of the old world, and in some 
respects leads them all. It is the work of a Protestant 
people. It is the product of individualized humanity. 
Each strong spirit has contributed its rnodictim, and 
here is the result. While our Southern neighbors, a 
hundred years our seniors, are struggling in a feeble 
and unpromising infancy, our Republic has attained to 
gigantic proportions. The pulsations of an irrepress- 
ible life course along every artery of the body politic. 



560 Lecture XXII. 

There is no country on earth that has so many 
prosperous and happy homes, in proportion to the 
whole population, as our own. There is none where 
industry and thrift so universally abound. 

Refugees from tyranny, the Puritan and the Hu- 
guenot, have given the world a specimen of the power 
of the soul, and its capacity for development when 
thrown upon itself. It is not by any theory of race 
that the result is to be accounted for, nor yet by any 
theory of locality. The Anglo-Saxon Pttritans set- 
tled in the North, and made New England. The 
French Huguenots settled in the Carolinas. The 
only fact which was common to the two classes was, 
that they had the Bible, with the recognized right of 
each one to understand it for himself. Each one 
felt his own individual, distinct existence, and had to 
meet the consequences in both worlds. This con- 
sciousness impels a soul to action as nothing else 
can. This consciousness in Puritan and Huguenot 
has made this great nation, and "set it up on high." 
The Spaniard, with his feudal attachment to his 
sovereign and the Pope, could achieve wonders of 
chivalrous daring, and conquer a new world for Spain 
and the Church ; but for civilization and human prog- 
ress he could do nothing. And this, not because he 
is a Spaniard, but because he is under a spell that 
checks all development. His religion merges him in 
" the Church," which absorbs him. If the Spanish 
had been Protestants, and thrown upon their individ- 
ual relations to God, the consciousness thus induced 
would have produced the very same results in the 
South as we see in the North. But the priests took 



Errors of the Papacy. 561 

the responsibility of existence off their hands, and 
they could only vegetate on American soil. 

In many portions of our continent, which the 
Spanish took possession of in the name of the 
Church, they found a comparatively high degree of 
civilization. There were nations with governments 
and laws, a well-defined and enlightened judiciary, 
many useful arts, and a considerable commerce. In- 
dustry was encouraged by its proper rewards. Fur- 
ther North, the Protestant emigrants found nothing 
of this. The Indian whom they encountered was 
the mere nomad of the forest. But he was treated 
as a man. His lands were purchased. His rights 
were recognized. 

Both in the North and in the South, the Indian 
has been "fading away." In Mexico, where Cortes 
found cities, there are but villages now. Where he 
found flourishing agricultural districts, there is now 
a waste. "The Church" laid her hand on the civil- 
ized Aztec, and he withered under the touch. Nor 
did the invading European compensate the loss by 
his presence and achievements. 

Where the priest encountered wandering, warlike 
tribes, like those on our part of the continent, he 
could accomplish but little with them. The docile 
Chiquitos and others yielded to Jesuitical instruction, 
but the wild, warlike Chaco tribes continue to-day as 
they were three hundred years ago. (Page's La 
Plata, p. 148.) 

But the force of Protestantism is seen in its effect 
even upon the aborigines. Such as have been con- 
verted have been so by dint of instruction, and not 



562 Lecture XXII. 

by force of arms. Where Christianity has been re- 
ceived under Protestant auspices, it has been the re- 
sult of conviction. It has not been the submission of 
a subjugated race to the religious forms imposed 
upon them by their conquerors, while old idolatrous 
sentiments still retained their hold upon the mind. 

Instead of dragging civilized nations down, as was 
the case in Mexico, Protestantism has raised the 
nomad, in many instances, to civilization. Where he 
has yielded, the work has been thorough. The Cher- 
okee, the Choctaw, the Wyandotte, and others, de- 
scendants of savages, will compare well to-day with 
the descendants of the cultivated Mexican. 

I frankly admit that the Protestant missionaries do 
not baptize the heathen as fast as the Romanists do. 
They take the pains to Christianize them as they go. 
This is an important distinction. They don't con- 
vert a tribe, and leave it to make a statue of a horse 
to worship. 

Protestantism is young. We would not be mis- 
understood here. In all its essential features. Prot- 
estantism dates back to Christ and the apostles ; but 
as a distinct and successful protest against the cor- 
ruptions of the Romish Church — as the great revival 
which began with Luther and his contemporaries, 
and has been moving on with accelerated power ever 
since — it is young. It had first to establish itself at 
home, to prove itself the true New Testament evan- 
gelism. Its missionary enterprises are but just get- 
ting fairly under headway. They have been advanc- 
ing, slowly it may be, but surely, and with augment- 
ing power. They have no compromise to make with 



Errors of the Papacy. 563 

idolatry, and every inch they gain is so much to 
count. Their resources are rapidly increasing. And 
they have this great advantage — one which means 
more than at first blush you might suppose — every 
missionary family is a model of Christian life and in- 
stitutions. It is a living example of the Christian re- 
ligion, which must diffuse itself. 

Protestantism has already blessed the world be- 
yond what language can describe. Yet it has been, 
as it were, but gathering strength for its work, ar- 
ranging its resources for conquests yet to come. It 
is widening its area in Europe. Papal and Austrian 
domination are tottering in Italy. The principle of 
constitutional government is in the ascendant, and 
the land of Cato bids fair to be again the " home of 
the free." 

The world's regeneration is the work of Protestant- 
ism. The Bible is the great civilizer, and it has giv- 
en the Bible to the world. It has begun well, but 
yet has much to do. Its power is augmenting. 
"The fields are white for the harvest." Laborers 
are multiplying. God's promise cheers on his mili- 
tant hosts. The truth is triumphing. The Word of 
God is pouring floods of light upon mankind. And 
the triumph of truth is the triumph of man. 

Next Sunday evening I will devote to a general 

review of the main points presented in the course of 

my lectures. That lecture will close this series. 
36 



564 Lecture XXIII. 



LECTURE XXIII. 

GENERAL REVIEW. 

I APPEAR before you, my friends, for the twenty- 
third time in as many weeks, for the discussion 
of most important propositions. There is an effort 
made, in some quarters, to create the impression 
that my lectures are an attack upon the Roman 
Church, and not a defense of Protestantism. Be 
that as it may, the St. Louis pubhc will remember 
that the " Protestant Rule of Faith " was attacked 
before I began ; and that the attack was thrust be- 
fore the entire public by appearing in a widely circu- 
lated secular paper. All well. But if any one im- 
agined that Protestant ministers were disposed, 
under such circumstances, to look on respectfully 
from a distance, he only mistook their temper. 

It sometimes happens that the most effectual 
means of defense is to ''carry the war into Africa." 
If I have demolished Romanism, I have, by that 
very means, established the opposite principle. If 
that Church is not what she claims to be, Protestant- 
ism is right in rejecting her assumptions. Besides, 
those assumptions are so bold, so enormous, so abso- 
lute in the dominion they assert over men, that those 
who maintain them must not delude themselves by 
the comfortable supposition that we will tamely re- 
ceive their dictum in the matter. We will know the 
ground on which they rest. We must see the Divine 



Errors of the Papacy. 565 

warrant. And if the pretended warrant is examined, 
and its spurious character detected, they must take 
it patiently. We are not in the habit of submitting 
ourselves quietly to every comer who may claim to 
be our master. He must show the papers ; he must 
produce the bill of sale before we can consent to go 
into his service. The Almighty, our original owner, 
must make us over to the priests before we can ac- 
knowledge their authority to take charge of us. 

I have been examining their papers before the 
community, and the title turns out a very flimsy 
one. Indeed, it isn't any title at all. They have 
not even been appointed our overseers. Their as- 
sumed authority is all traced to their own fictions. 
It may be a little unpleasant, under such circum- 
stances, to have the title closely inspected ; but they 
must learn to be patient. Missouri is not yet a 
Paraguay. 

My object, this evening, is not to enter upon new 
ground, but to close this series of lectures by a gen- 
eral review of the main points already presented. 
New^ fields are open on every hand, indeed, but, as 
I conceive, I have said enough to meet the present 
demand, and other objects call my attention. 

It is impossible to give a full review of what has 
been said, in a single lecture. T shall confine myself 
to what I consider the most important aspects of the 
discussion, with the design only of refreshing your 
memory. 

The right op private judgment in matters 

OF faith, versus THE infallibility OF THE 
Church. This is the king-: of the controversy, but 



566 Lecture XXIII. 

it swings over a wide range. The advocates of in- 
fallibility have ever shown a disposition to narrow 
the area of discussion, and confine it to a single 
aspect. The Romanist loves to linger in the broad 
field of metaphysical disquisition, where, whatever 
may be said on one side, something, pertinent or 
otherwise, may be said on the other. They love to 
keep the claim of infallibility, therefore, on general 
grounds. They are reluctant to bring it to the test 
of particular facts. By such a test the absurd charac- 
ter of the claim becomes too glaring. Here they 
are in close quarters : there is no room for dodging. 
It is said that a distinguished Jesuit advised the 
members of his order to avoid the discussion of 
dog))ias. The advice seems to have had its effect. 
You can scarcely drag one into the discussion of the 
tenets peculiar to his Church, when there is a pros- 
pect of reply. 

TJie rigJit of private judgment lies at the basis of 
Protestantism. 

This right rests on the supposition that the saving 
truth is so taught in the Bible as to be within the 
grasp of the ordinary understanding. Not that 
everv man mav become an acute theologian ; but the 
truth, so far as the knowledge of it is necessary to 
salvation, may be readily ascertained from that 
book. It is everv man's riQ[ht to test relis^ious 
teaching by it. It is the only infallible depository 
of truth. Men ma\- err. Any given organization 
or body of men may err. The inspired record can- 
not err ; and he only knows he has the truth who 
receives it from that unchanging standard. It is the 
text-book of the Christian teacher, and equally so 



Errors of the Papacy. 567 

of the Christian disciple. Neither the one nor the 
other has the right to depart from it, nor to wrest 
it. But they have, both, equally the right to go 
reverently to it, and receive from it the words of the 
Divine Teacher. The question really is, whether or 
not God has made himself intelligible in the Bible. 
Is the saving truth there put in enigmas and dark 
sayings, or is it clearly and definitely stated ? 

The right of each man to decide questions of faith 
for himself, however distasteful to the Romanist, is, 
nevertheless, one which he tacitly acknowledges 
whenever he enters upon religious discussion. What 
an odd spectacle it is for an intelligent community, 
when a man undertakes to convince \h.Q\r jjidginent 
that they have no right to any judgment in the 
matters of which he speaks. The whole thing is an 
absurdity — a farce. The right of each individual to 
determine for himself is recognized in the effort to 
convince him, and yet the effort is to convince him 
that he has no such right ! The only consistent 
course for the priest to pursue is to stand and assert 
his dogmas, and command acquiescence ! The mo- 
ment he begins to argue, by that very fact he contra- 
dicts his own conclusions. In attempting argument, 
the Protestant feels at home. He is dealing with 
rational men, who are to be convinced. 

As I explained at an early stage in the course of 
these lectures, the right of every man to think for 
himself rests on the same ground as his right to act 
for himself. He is accountable to God in both 
cases. In respect to his relations toward God, no 
man has the right either to act wickedly or to think 
perversely. But his accountability, in both cases, is 



568 Lecture XXIII. 

to God. Civil society has the right to protect itself, 
by such methods as may be necessary, against the 
vicious ; and Christian society has the right of re- 
proof and excommunication. But it has not the 
right of coinpulsio7i. For Christians are not com- 
pulsorily made. No man can be compelled to be a 
Christian, either in belief or life. The Christian life 
is essentially vohmtary. It is between a man's Maker 
and himself. If he is recreant in any respect, the 
Church may persuade, reprove, and, in the last re- 
sort, expel him. She may persuade and reprove, for 
such influences are compatible with personal free- 
dom, and are legitimate means, therefore, of bring- 
ing the offender to a better mind. And she may 
expel^ to protect herself from the influence of vicious 
example, and to maintain her moral tone. But she 
may neither compel submission, nor wreak vengeance 
on the recreant member. She may not compel, for 
compulsory submission is but external and formal, 
and produces no real godliness ; for all real piety 
is in the free submission of the soul to God. And 
she may not take vengeance, for that belongs to the 
Lord, 

Under the solemn conviction of accountability to 
God, every man is to settle his belief, and form his 
character. 

Each man's right to search the Scriptures for the 
truth, and, indeed, his duty to do so, is clearly taught 
in the Word of God. Christ commanded the Jews 
to search the Scriptures for their testimony in re- 
spect to himself; and there is a world of meaning 
in the apostolic commendation of the Bereans. 
They were more noble than they of Thessalonica, 



Errors of the Papacy. 569 

for they searched the Scriptures daily ; and the 
object of their search was to determine for them- 
selves the truth or falsehood of the doctrine brought 
them by the apostles. Here is the very point in- 
volved in the controversy. The right to appeal to 
Scripture for the decision of religious questions was 
acted upon by the Bereans, and their course is highly 
approved by the apostle. The Scriptures are given 
" that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly 
furnished to every good work." So teacheth Paul, 
The man of God, the minister of Christ, is thoroughly 
furnished for every good work by the Scriptures. 
Being thoroughly furnished from this source, he 
needs no traditions of the Church to complete his 
equipment. Timothy knew the Scriptures from his 
childhood, having had a faithful mother and grand- 
mother.' The sacred writings were not thought 
unsafe, even for children, in those times. And those 
godly matrons who trained up a child in the knowl- 
edge of them have been made immortal by an 
apostle's pen. The names of Lois and Eunice will 
shed a fragrant odor in the Church until the burning 
earth shall give up her dead. 

The worst abuses and usurpations will always 
manage to hide themselves behind some pious apol- 
ogy. Accordingly, the Romanist will tell you that 
he fences the Bible about by tradition, and puts it 
under restraint, because he venerates it too much to 
expose it to popular abuse and ribald jests. But, 
according to him, the traditions are as much the 
word of God as the Bible is, and ought to be, there- 
fore, as reverently guarded. Why expose them ? 
Why not keep all divine truth beyond the reach of 



570 Lecture XXIII. 

the people, lest they should make a jest 6f it ? Fie 
on such flimsy pretexts ! If God's truth is for any 
thing, it is for use, and those who abuse it do so at 
their own peril. 

But you tell me that Protestant Churches make 
creeds, and thus restrain private judgment. They 
do make creeds, and then send them and the Bible 
out together, and, in the creed itself, declare that 
whatsoever is not found in Scripture is not to be 
required of any man as necessary to salvation. It 
refers to the Bible as the standard by which itself 
is to be measured. 

After all, Romanists profess to prove, by the Bu 
hie, that the Church is infallible. Now let us see 
how this will look in a short dialogue between a 
priest and a layman. 

Layman. You tell me that the Church is infalli- 
ble. How may I know it to be so ? I want the 
proof. 

Priest, I will prove it to you from the Bible. 

L, Am I able to get the truth from the Bible ? 
Is my reason competent to determine with certainty 
the meaning of the Bible, in questions of faith ? 

P. Not at all. If it were so, there would be no 
need of an infallible Church to interpret the Script- 
ures. You don't know whether your so-called Bi- 
ble has been correctly interpreted, nor, indeed, 
whether it has been preserved from corruptions in 
the original, or whether, indeed, it is a genuine book. 
And if you did know all this, your reason is a poor, 
weak thing, not even capable of understanding the 
plain teaching of the book. 

L. And it is this doubtful book by which you are 



Errors of the Papacy. 571 

going to prove the infallibility of your Church ! 
and to my reason, which is incapable of understand- 
ing it, that you are going to offer the proof! 

P. But the Church knows the book to be genuine, 
though you do not ; and she will graciously explain 
to your weak reason what it teaches. 

L. But you forget that I am not yet prepared to 
believe '' the Church." Whether she is infallible, 
and, therefore, a competent umpire, is the very point 
you promised to prove by the Bible. And you be- 
gin by disparaging your witness, and denying my 
capacity to understand the deposition. I must first 
hold the Church infallible before I can believe the 
Bible, and then ascertain the fact from the Bible 
that the Church is infallible ; and all that in the use 
of a reason that is utterly incapable of understand- 
ing with any certainty what the Bible teaches. Sir^ 
on your principle , faith is impossible to me. 

P. O! h\x\, for the purpose of establishing the infal- 
libility of the Church, your reason is capable of as- 
certaining the genuineness of the Scripture books, 
the correctness of the translation, and all ; and of 
understanding it besides ! 

L, Indeed ! My capacity, then, all depends upon 
the object in view. But when I have determined the 
authenticity of the Scriptures for one purpose, it 
will serve me for all others ; and if, after all, my 
reason is capable of ascertaining with certainty the 
truths contained in Scripture, I shall hereafter go 
to that source for information in these all-important 
questions. 

The Romanist theory contains these two propo- 
sitions : 



5/2 Lecture XXIII. 

1. That the mind can arrive at no certain assur- 
ance of truth from the Bible. 

2. That from the Bible the mind may reach the 
certain assurance of the infallibility of the Church. 

Their appeal to the Word of God is suicidal. The 
mere fact o( making the appeal involves them in fa- 
tal contradiction. 

Infallibility, as held by Romanists, involves two 
propositions. First, that the Church cannot err ; 
and, secondly, that she has the right to impose her 
creed upon all men. It is the bounden duty of ev- 
ery man to submit to her dictation, and resistance 
is fatal. The conclusion from this proposition is, 
that out of the Church there is no salvation. ** No 
salvation out of the Roman Church." That sounds 
rather harsh. In this country it is not altogether 
palatable, and the pill is sugar-coated. The last in- 
fallible pronunciamento which we have had on the 
subject is, that (fa. man hears the argument in favor 
of the Roman Church, and // the atgument con- 
vinces him, and //he repels the conviction willfully, 
and so remains out of the Church, this willful rejec- 
tion of the truth will prove fatal to him. This is 
charitable. We appreciate it. Protestants can af- 
ford to draw a long breath now. Two benevolent 
ifs (the last two mentioned) stand between them and 
destruction. Let us be thankful. 

I have proven — if there be any such thing as proof 
on earth — that if there is any such thing as an in- 
fallible Church it is not the Church of Rome. Of 
the proofs I have offered, I remind you of the fol- 
lowing : — 

J. That which is infallible is ever the same ; 



Errors oV the Papacy. 573 

but the Roman Church has passed through vital 
changes. 

First, her creed has changed many times. It has 
changed by two different processes. The first is the 
process of enlargement, and the second is that of 
retraction. 

That to which she has been most addicted is the 
enlargement of the creed. In the course of the pre- 
ceding lectures I have given ample proof of this. 
The time was when it was no heresy to deny the 
right of the clergy to withhold the cup from the 
laity in the holy communion. The time was when 
it was no heresy to discard the doctrme of transub- 
stantiation. In the ninth century eminent divines 
wrote against it, and never retracted, and died in 
communion with Rome. It was long after the 
apostles were all in heaven that purgatory was first 
heard of, and it is but a very few years since it was 
no heresy to deny the immaculate conception of the 
Virgin Mary. And there is no telling what dogmas 
are yet to be enacted. Now, I submit, that, in the 
true Church, what is heresy now was so eighteen 
hundred years ago. If it was necessary, in order to 
salvation, to believe in transubstantiation in the 
thirteenth or in the nineteenth century, it was so in 
the ninth and in the first. Many illustrious men 
opposed it before Berengarius, but he is the first 
who suffered for it, or was compelled to recant. 
In a former lecture I traced for you this dogma, 
from the cell of the monk Eutyches, from which 
the germ of it emerged, to its enactment into a 
dogma in the early part of the thirteenth century. 

Only think of it. Your father, denying the im- 



574 Lecture XXIII. 

maculate conception of the Virgin, died and went 
to heaven. But if you deny it, though there be no 
other cause, for that alone you must be damned. 
And this Church is infallible ! ! 

Not only has she extended the list of her dogmas, 
she has enacted, and then retracted, certain dogmas. 
I need but remind you of a single case. The Coun- 
cil of Sirmium adopted an Arian creed. This creed 
was signed by Pope Liberius. Subsequent Councils 
and Popes repudiated it. St. Jerome says that the 
world was astonished to find itself become Arian. 
Every one acquainted with ecclesiastical history 
knows that at one time Athanasius was almost the 
only great champion of the orthodox faith, and even 
he was driven into exile. There is no doubt that 
the bulk of the Church was once Arian, and the 
Bishop of Rome signed an Arian creed. If the 
Church is infallible, Arianism was once, for a short 
time, true. 

But Arianism was never true, and the Church, by 
embracing it, proved herself fallible. One blunder 
breaks the charm. Infallibility is a quality that ad- 
mits of no degrees. The slightest or most momen- 
tary mistake is incompatible with it. Rome became 
Arian once, and her word can never be taken as 
proof of any dogma after that. 

Secondly. Her cojistitution has been changed. 
Her ministers were once preachers ; now they are 
priests. This is a fundamental change. That is 
not the same Church the characterizing feature of 
whose ministry is the sacerdotal function. When 
the Church was organized at Rome, in the days of 
apostolic simplicity, there is no hint of her suprem- 



Errors of the Papacy. 575 

acy over other Churches. There was no Pope then. 
There were no lordly prelates with proud titles. 
There were teachers and overseers of the flock, with 
deacons. This proud ecclesiasticism of Rome, as it 
is now, and has been for many ages past, is not the 
same as that ; and if that which is infallible is, for 
that reason, unchanging, Rome is not infallible. 

2. I have said much of the corruptions of the 
Roman Church, especially in the Middle Ages. The 
picture, as drawn by their own writers, is sickening. 
I need not reproduce it to-night. A leprosy spread 
from the head to all the members. It is not for 
here and there a vicious member that we condemn 
a whole Church. There are spots in the sun. 
There was a Judas among the twelve. But when, 
from age to age, the acknowledged head of a Church 
is an adulterer — when that office is bought and 
sold — when lewd women dispose of the first eccle- 
siastical dignities, and the morals of the inferior 
clergy are upon the same model — so far from ac- 
knowledging infallibility, you are compelled to deny 
the Christian character of the organization. What- 
ever else it may be, it is not a Church of Christ. 
All this is true of the Church of Rome. I have 
referred you to the oft-cited Baronius, himself a 
bigoted Papist, whose authority is unquestioned at 
Rome. Human corruption scarcely ever reached a 
higher pitch than among the ecclesiastics of Rome. 
The facts which I have stated are unimpeached and 
unimpeachable. 

The advocates of Romanism are shy of history — 
at least the history of their own Church. They 
have no patience when it is brought to light before 



5/6 Lecture XXIII. 

the people. They dare not deny facts, and some- 
times allow themselves to fall into sweeping and 
unspecific insinuations, to make the impression that 
the facts are not so gross as Protestants affirm. 
My statements have been specific. Let them be 
specifically denied. I am ready for the issue. Of- 
fensive epithets — such as 'Mies, hypocrisy," and the 
like — will not answer the demand of the St. Louis 
public. Men in this country prefer facts, rather 
than harsh expletives, as the staple of argument. 
The truth is, that sweeping denunciation, unsup- 
ported by facts, is supposed by many to be the 
mere bluster which serves to occupy attention long 
enough for a defeated argument to hide itself. 

3. I have alleged the political character of the 
Roman Church against her spiritual claims. '' My 
kingdom." said our Saviour, " is not of this world." 
The Pope claims to be a temporal prince, in virtue 
of his spiritual office. Even now the Pope, Pio Nono, 
is excommunicating men by the wholesale for inter- 
fering with his temporal dignities. It is not on the 
ground of political injustice, or one prince trampling 
upon the rights of another. Not at all. Princes may 
make war upon each other, and invade each other's 
territories ad lib it tun ^ while all the thunders of the 
Vatican lie still. But the Pope is no ordinary prince, 
and any man who presumes to favor the efforts of 
his subjects to secure constitutional liberty is doomed. 
All the awful consequences of excommunication must 
avenge the wrongs of the Vicar of God. His polit- 
ical wrongs, mark you — not spiritual, for the princes 
engaged in this contest have been very careful of 
the Pope's spiritual dignities. 



Errors of the Papacy. 577 

This petty Italian tyrant, guarding his throne 
by ridiculous fulminations in the name of God, the 
head of the Church ! Such use of sacred sanctions 
to uphold an effete despotism is repulsively blas- 
phemous. 

Formerly the Popes claimed and exercised the 
power to depose princes beyond their own tempo- 
ral dominions. And this claim has never been disa- 
vowed in any authoritative way. In this country it 
is odious, and every effort has been made to soften 
it. But the bald fact stands, a historic monument 
of monstrous pretentions, which are laid aside only 
for want of power to carry them into execution. If 
it were in the power of the Pope to accomplish such 
a thing, his creatures would occupy every throne 
and fill every legislature in the world. 

Think of the head of '' the Church" mixed up 
with political intrigues, pulling wires, negotiating 
with the adroitness of a Talleyrand, and fighting 
with the sanguinary ambition of a Caesar, and you 
have a picture of the Roman See, as it is and has 
been. Was Julius, at the head of his own brutal sol- 
diery, sacking cities and giving them up to lust and 
plunder, the head of an infallible Church ? Was 
Leo X, expending the treasures of " the Church " in 
war and bloodshed, the head of an infallible 
Church? I de/j you to believe it. It requires a 
stretch of credulity that you are not master of. I do 
not wonder that Romanists are displeased with 
history. 

This politico-ecclesiastical establishment is not 
the kingdom which " is not of this world." 

4. The claim of the Roman Church that she is in- 



578 Lecture XXIII. 

fallible, involves, as I have said, the right to impose 
her creed on all men. There is but one step, and 
that a very natural and easy one, from this to the 
authority of enforcing submission. If the Roman 
Church is committed to any one thing more than 
another, it is to the right of coercing heretics. For 
many ages her authority was unquestioned. To 
say nothing of wholesale butcheries, such as those 
of St. Bartholomew's Day and of the Netherlands, 
and the crusades against heretical provinces, the In- 
quisition presents a history equaling, if not tran- 
scending, in cruelty and blood any thing to be 
found in the customs of the most savage nations of 
the earth. 

Prescott relates, on the authority of Las Casas, a 
priest of the Church of Rome, that an Indian chief, 
named Hatney, having fled from St. Domingo when 
the Spaniards took possession of that island, took 
refuge in Cuba. When Velasquez invaded Cuba, 
he made a desperate resistance. He was taken, how- 
ever, and, for the crime of patriotism, condemned to 
be burnt alive. At the stake he was urged to em- 
brace Christianity, *' that his soul might find ad- 
mission into heaven." He asked it there would be 
any ivhite men there, and on being assured that 
there would be, he replied : '' Then I will not be a 
Christian ; for I would not go again to a place 
where I must find men so cruel." (Con. of Mex., 
vol. I, p. 221.) The Spaniards had been instructed 
in cruelty by the Church. The Inquisition had 
familiarized them with the idea of burning men 
alive. Huss had been burned by order of a general 
council. The roasting of live human flesh seems to 



Errors of the Papacy. 579 

have been peculiarly gratifying to the instincts of 
the hierarchy. 

And now this Church, drunk with the blood of 
saints, extends her hands to us, all smeared with 
the gore of martyrs, and demands our submission. 
We start back with horror from the offered em- 
brace. Rome, wash that BLOOD off ! Come with 
clean Jmiids before 5^ou test our credulity by the 
proud boast of infallible authority. 

Alas for her ! The blood adheres. No ablution 
can cleanse her. Her infallible councils are com- 
mitted to bloodshed. She has never, in any au- 
thoritative way, disavowed it. She dare not. The 
bhod adheres. And she has crowned the climax of 
cruelty with perfidy. No faith is to be kept with 
heretics ! General Councils have so decreed ; and, 
by unanimous consent among Romanists, the decrees 
of general councils, in matters of faith and morals, 
are infallible. No faith with heretics ! No obliga- 
tion to a heretic, no matter how confirmed, is 
binding. Rome is committed to this horrible dog- 
ma, and cannot retract. 

And this Church, with this record of blood and 
perfidy, proclaims herself infallible ! ! This Church 
vociferates in men's ears the assurance that the only 
road to heaven is through herself! Such pretentions 
from such a source ! It is virtuous to feel indignant. 
In vain she tries to hide her bloody records. His- 
tory has possession of them, and she is ruined. 

Before the Church of Rome can sustain any 

claim to the character of a true Church of the pure 

and gentle Jesus, she must repudiate her history, 

and wash off the blood of many thousand murders. 
37 



58o Lecture XXIII. 

5. The forged decretals^ of which I spoke a few 
weeks ago, are fatal to the claims of the Roman 
Church. They prove two things : first, that the 
ecclesiastics felt the need of authority to support 
their assumptions, and, secondly, that they would 
stick at nothing that might be necessary to create 
such authority. Those forged documents were re- 
ceived as genuine in the Church for many centuries, 
and appear in the great work of Binius, under the 
auspices of Pope Paul V, as late as A. D. 1618. I 
challenge any man to deny this fact, or to deny 
that they are forgeries. And yet that Church, 
whose canon law in many instances has no better 
authority than these forged decretals, stands up be- 
fore an intelligent world and proclaims herself — in- 
fallible ! 

6. Romanists stake their claim on three assumed 
facts, not one of which can be proven : 

(i.) That Peter was settled at Rome. (2.) That he 
was Bishop of Rome. (3.) That he was constituted 
head on earth of the universal Church. I am not 
in the habit of making rash propositions, but I should 
risk nothing in placing the whole issue in the denial 
that Peter was ever Bishop of Rome. 

There is scarcely another negative proposition 
susceptible of such clear proof as this. You will, 
perhaps, remember what I said in a former lecture 
on this subject. The fact that the writer of the 
Acts of the Apostles is silent on this subject is con- 
clusive against the Romanist theory. For by that 
theory the presence of Peter in Rome, as Bishop of 
Rome and head of the Church, was the most im- 
portant fact in the early history of the Church — a 



Errors of the Papacy. 581 

fact that looked to the future with more significance 
than any other. For that reason the contempora- 
neous historian would have made it the central point 
of his record. But he has not one word as to Pe- 
ter's ever having so much as been at Rome. 

The boasted historical proof that Peter was Bishop 
of Rome dwindles, upon inspection, to the state- 
ment of Irenaeus, and that statement is that Paul 
and Peter founded the Church at Rome. On this 
statement I remark : First, it was made long after 
the apostles were dead, and has only the value of a 
floating tradition — a very suspicious basis for a his- 
torical fact. Secondly, it is a contradiction of a well 
known fact, for it associates Paul with Peter in 
founding the Church at Rome. But we know from 
Paul's own writings that he was never at Rome un- 
til after the Church was founded in that city. 

As, therefore, this statement is false, and known 
so to be, in one essential particular, it is unworthy 
of credit in any particular. And, thirdly, if the 
statement were true, yet it does not prove any thing 
for the Papacy, for it does not affirm that Peter was 
Bishop of Rome. The claim of the Pope, as the 
successor of Peter, is wholly baseless. I have no 
idea that Peter ever was at Rome. I am sure he 
never was Bishop of Rome. And, even if he had 
been, it would amount to nothing in favor of the 
Pope, for Peter was never made the head of the 
Church. He never exercised nor claimed the func- 
tions of the Papacy. 

The only way to get along with a proofless prop- 
osition is to put it forth with unswerving boldness 
and pertinacity. Rome understands the manage- 



582 Lecture XXIII. 

ment of such a case to perfection. The boldness of 
her asseverations rises in proportion to her want of 
proof. '^ Peter was at Rome : he was Bishop of 
Rome : he was supreme Pontiff." So her advocates 
assert over and over again, declaring most positively 
that they have full historical proof of all they as- 
sert. But they are always chary of their proof. 
Perhaps they dread to expose it to popular deris- 
ion, as they do '' the Bible." 

But, when compelled to exhibit it, they parade a 
host of statements in the fourth and fifth centuries. 
But you demand witnesses nearer the time. Fol- 
lowing up this bold current of history a short dis- 
tance, you trace it to its head, a feeble spring in the 
mountains, at a point far below the life-tim.e of Pe- 
ter. Irenaeus said that Peter and Paul founded the 
Church at Rome. And this is the historical /r^*?/" 
that Peter was Bishop of Rome, and head of the 
Church, and that he established Rome as the head- 
quarters of Christendom ! Verily it is a case that 
requires bold assertion. It has been fortunate in its 
advocates ; they have proven themselves equal to 
the emergency. 

But I have not time to recall every point which 
I have made in the course of my lectures, on the 
subject of infallibility. I will recall only one other. 

7. Romanists admit the infallibility of the Bible. 
I have shown you that her traditions, some of them, 
contradict the Bible in direct terms. I will remind 
you of only one instance. If I obey '' the Church," 
and bow down to images, I must disobey the deca- 
logue, which positively forbids me to bow down to 
them. I am absolutely compelled to disobey one or 



Errors of the Papacy. 583 

the other. But they are both infallible, and if I dis- 
obey either I am lost ! 

After all this, I am told that the Roman Church 
is certainly infallible, and the only authorized high- 
way to heaven. Commend me to an advocate of 
Rome when there is any asserting to be done. 

I have said that the Romanist theory is, in its 
very essence, a despotism. What I have affirmed 
I have shown by an analysis of the system, and 
proved by an abundant array of facts. According 
to the theory, one class of men have sole authority 
to interpret Scripture, and to impose upon the 
Church whatsoever may please them as the true 
Christian faith. They claim, indeed, to be divinely 
guided. Upon an examination of facts we .find 
that they have been guided (divinely or otherwise) 
to contradict the Bible, to burn men alive, and the 
like. Rather a high-handed despotism, it seems to 
us Protestants. And we are not very well able to 
see how the truth oi forged decretals is to make men 
free. Excuse us if we are a little dull in such mat- 
ters. Our Protestant education had the unfortunate 
effect of rendering us incapable of believing contra- 
dictions. For the life of us we can't see how a con- 
tradiction of the Bible can be true. Nor can we see 
how a system of priestly domination, established by 
the aid of forged documents, can have truth enough 
in it to make any one free. Perhaps we shall get 
credit for great stupidity, but it is our misfortune, 
and we crave indulgence. 

Is it not the direct effect" of the Romish rule of 
faith to cause the laity to give up all their thinking, 
in reference to questions of faith, to the priest ? 



584 Lecture XXIII. 

He has no responsibility in respect to it, except 
just to believe implicitly what the priest tells him. 

And now I want you to note one fact and re- 
member it. It is this: — 

Nearly all the traditions of the Roman Church go 
directly to enhance the credit and authority of the 
priest, and to depress the layman. 

Instance the dogma of infallibility itself. If the 
Church is infallible, it is the Ecclesia Docens, the 
teaching Church, the priesthood. This at once raises 
the priesthood, and makes it an object of reverence 
on the part of those who believe the dogma. 

The doctrine of transubstantiation has the same 
effect. The men who have charge of such awful 
mysteries, through whose agency such a miracle is 
wrought, stand upon a height altogether inaccessi- 
ble to common mortals. 

The whole theory of sacramental salvation puts 
the laity completely into the hands of the priest- 
hood. It is seen more directly in the so-called sac- 
rament oi penance. 

Auricular confession and priestly absolution are 
directly connected with this. The laity, men and 
women, communicate fully every sin, even to the 
very thoughts and imaginations of the mind, to the 
priest. You see the hold which the priest has at 
once on the man or the woman of whose inner and 
outer life he knows every secret. You have not 
forgotten the extract which I gave you from the 
priest Cahill, taken from a sermon preached a few 
months since in Brooklyn. You will not soon for- 
get how exultingly he speaks of proud men and 
lovely women getting on their knees to the priest, 



Errors of the Papacy. 585 

as they would not to any king or potentate on earth. 
And it is true that the penitent bows to the con- 
fessor as no man has the right to bow except to 
God. 

But of all the agencies of priestly despotism, 
there is none more potent, nor any other so profit- 
able, as purgatory. This is, out and out, an inven- 
tion of the priests. Some of their traditions, per- 
haps, originated from distorted interpretations of 
Scripture. Others have not even the most violent 
distortion of a single text to appeal to. Of this 
number is the doctrine of purgatory. You know 
what this is. Persons dying not in mortal sin, nor 
yet fit for heaven, must pass through purifying 
fires. 

The priest has it in his power, by saying masses 
for any particular soul in purgatory, to hurry him 
through the fire right quick. And this the priest is 
bound to do for any man who leaves a liberal be- 
quest for pious uses. All this is found in the decrees 
of the Council of Trent. The same benefit may be 
secured by the generosity of surviving friends of the 
dead. Now, purgatory is all a fiction of the priests, 
and so is the mass, and the whole thing is a mere 
contrivance of theirs to screw money out of dying 
men and women and their surviving friends. If this 
is not despotism, then tell me what is ? 

I venture the opinion that, upon examination, 
you will find that in this country the greater part 
of the property of the Roman Church comes in this 
way. 

There are still other traditions of the Roman 
Church having this same tendency ; what I have 



586 Lecture XXIII, 

given will serve as a specimen. And now, I ask a 
candid public if that rule of faith, the development 
of which has produced these despotic dogmas, is 
not itself the very essence of despotism ? 

I have said, and every intelligent man knows it 
to be true, that the despotisms of Europe have the 
sympathy of Rome. The cause of the one is the 
cause of the other. Metternich understood this 
well. 

I have said, and need not enlarge upon it now, 
that wherever Romanism prevails, and has controll- 
ing influence, all human interests decline. The 
noble Spaniard, at the time when the world waked 
up from the torpor of the Dark Ages, was more than 
abreast with his neighbors in national greatness. 
Alas! where is he now^? What has he accom- 
plished at home ? What has he accomplished in 
America ? 

But the Roman Church, we are told, converts 
the heathen. And to what purpose ? The naked 
aborigines of Chiapas, good Papists, with great 
reverence for the priests, are the same shiftless 
savages to-day that they were three hundred years 
ago. 

The Church has absolutely not civilized them. 
You will remember what I have said in reference to 
the manner of converting the Indians of Mexico and 
Central and South America. 

1 have shown you that the boast of unity in the 
Roman Church amounts to nothing, in fact, but 
mere organic unity, which, without the spirit of 
Christian union, amounts to nothing. 

The unity of Masonry does not constitute it the 



Errors of the Papacy. 587 

Christian Church. No more does the unity of Ro- 
manism give it a title to that distinction. For, in 
order to prove itself the Church, it must show its 
unity with the primitive Church. This it cannot 
do, for its teaching and its spirit, as I have amply 
shown, are not the same. It teaches the mass, and 
auricular confession, and praying to saints, and pur- 
gatory, and many other things unknown in the apos- 
tolic Church, while the great doctrines of that period 
— ^justification by faith, the new birth, and the ne- 
cessity of a holy life — are either overlooked or 
denied. 

She has not even the spirit of unity within her- 
self. Witness the animosities between the various 
orders of priests, as, for instance, the war of exter- 
mination at one time waged between the Jesuits and 
other orders, illustrations of which I gave two weeks 
ago. Indeed, the chief tie which holds the widely 
separated portions of *' the Church " together is the 
oath of the bishops to the Pope. I have given you 
this oath in a previous lecture. 

You will remember that the delineations of the 
Church of Rome, which I have given, are taken 
chiefly from the canons and decrees of the Council 
of Trent, translated by a priest, and sold by Ro- 
manist book-sellers. I have given you quotations 
from this book at large. 

Whatever may be said in any quarter, I have the 
consciousness that I have '* set down nought in 
malice." I have been as careful as possible to ob- 
tain FACTS, and enjoy the assurance that the candid 
and well-informed will appreciate the fairness with 
which I have endeavored to speak. As to the 



588 Lecture XXIII. 

bitterness of sectarian denunciation, I shall hold it 
very cheap. 

It affords me pleasure, at the close of this series 
of lectures, to repeat what I have said some time 
ago, that I make no war upon individuals. Wher- 
ever I see personal worth, (whether in or out of my 
own party,) I shall ever take pleasure in acknowl- 
edging it. Far be it from me to embrace all Ro- 
manists in a general denunciation, because I have 
no confidence in their Church. I could name indi- 
viduals of that communion, whom I have the pleasure 
to know, for whom I entertain the highest regard. 
If any thing in these lectures should wound their 
feelings, I can only assure them that that result is 
far from what I designed. What I have said has 
been said from a clear conviction of its truth, and 
of the necessity of saying it. 

I judge no man. It is not for me to say how 
much error a man may hold, and be a sincere Chris- 
tian. I would not undertake to deny the hope of 
final salvation to a sincere and pious Romanist for 
my right arm. 

But there is a great reward in holding the truth, 
and that only. The truth makes free, and what a 
mass of unhappy and enslaving errors there are in 
Romanism we have seen, in part, in the course of 
these investigations. 

These errors I have endeavored to trace in the 
light of Scripture and reason. And as you will re- 
member, we have seen many of the grossest of them 
in distinct prophetic delineation. One after another 
they have been traced by the pen of the apostle, 
until there can be no mistake. The time, the place, 



Errors of the Papacy. 589 

the specific trials of the great apostasy, all stand 
out to the eye. There is no escape. The papacy 
is the man of sin. That Wicked is the fearful name 
which the apostle has given it. 

I have avoided all dubious questions of chronology 
in connection with the symbolic prophecies. But I 
have endeavored to show you with what fearful dis- 
tinctness they identify the Roman hierarchy. I 
have not time now even for a rapid summary. 

But the hoary apostate must fall at last. Sudden 
and terrible will be the catastrophe. When justice 
awakes to vengeance, the blow will carry extermi- 
nation with it. Like a great mill-stone cast into 
the sea, the Papacy will sink from the sight of man, 
to rise no more. 

And what is Protestantism ? It is simply the as- 
sertion of the truths of the gospel against the cor- 
ruptions of the Papacy. It proclaims the supremacy 
of the Bible against the encroachments of traditions. 

The enemies of Protestantism strive to make it 
odious by the assertion that it is only a little more 
than three hundred years old. The truth is, the 
Bible has been protesting against the corruptions of 
the Papacy ever since they were introduced. Nor 
have there been wanting men in every age who did 
the same. It is true that for centuries Romanism 
was in the ascendant, and the Church was driven 
into the wilderness. The protest of Huss and of 
Wickliffe, and their predecessors, was either hushed 
by relentless persecutions, or, at least, confined with- 
in narrow limits and remote localities. The mount- 
ains of Piedmont and Savoy have been immortal- 
ized as the ancient stronghold of the Protestants. 



590 Lecture XXIII. 

In the sixteenth century the spirit of Protestantism 
became irrepressible. As a successful and wide- 
spread movement, it dates from that period, and in 
that aspect it is young. But its principles are as 
old as the plan of salvation. Th^ religion oi Protest- 
antism is the old religion^ for it is that of the Bible. 
It is the religion of the apostles and first martyrs of 
Jesus. Whatever reproach belongs to the act of 
returning to the forsaken doctrines of Christ, justly 
attaches to Protestantism. It stands up for the 
pure Word of God against the corruptions of ages, 
that had vitiated the Roman Church. If the old 
religion is that of the Holy Scriptures, then the 
Protestants have it. The Roman Church had gone 
away from the gospel of God, and from the midst 
of the corrupt body, men heard the Divine call, 
'' Come out of her, my people, that ye be not par- 
takers of her sins, and that ye receive not her 
plagues." They obeyed the voice. They came out 
and protested against her corruptions, and fled from 
her plagues. 

But *' the gates of hell shall not prevail " against 
the Church, and so we have Divine assurance that 
" the Church " has never become so corrupted as to 
lose her true character, you say. Aye ! The true 
Church of Christ always exists, but individual Church 
organizations have often become so corrupted that 
their " candlestick has been removed." It was so 
with the Church of Rome and those affiliated with 
her. Wherever there have been two or three meet- 
ing together in the name of Christ, in obedience to 
his word, and to observe his ordinances, he has had 
a Church. The existence of the Church does not 



Errors of the Papacy. 591 

depend upon a personal, official succession. Its 
identity is on higher ground, the ground of truth 
and purity. No matter how close the succession, 
when Christian truth is lost the organization ceases 
to be a Church. It is the same when the character 
of the organization becomes corrupt. Judging by 
this standard, the Roman Church long since ceased 
to be a Church of Christ. It does not follow, how- 
ever, that there were no surviving congregations, 
fulfilling all the conditions of the Church of Christ, 
which, taken aggregately, constituted the Church. 
^'The gates of hell" did, indeed, pour out floods 
against it — floods of violence and corruption. They 
swept over Europe for ages with desolating fury. 
But God's promise was out : " The gates of hell 
shall not prevail." He found a retreat for his 
chosen. He was all the time saying to them, " Fear 
not, little flock ; it is your Father's good pleasure to 
give you the- kingdom." And he kept his word. 
The day of enlargement came. Nations, all at once, 
broke away from the vassalage of Rome. The 
Church came down from her mountain fastnesses, 
and spread over vast territories. Hundreds of 
thousands, yea, millions of the dupes of Rome dis- 
covered her true character, and protested against 
her errors, her usurpations, and her crimes. They 
came out of her ^ and joined themselves to the true 
Church of God's redeemed and believing children. 

The great achievement of Protestantism was to 
re-estabhsh the authority of the Bible. The Church 
of Rome had added to all her other usurpations this 
most fatal one of all, that she only allowed the Bible 
to say what pleased herself. Its teachings were 



592 . Lecture XXIII. 

overborne by the spreading current of tradition. It 
was not allowed to speak to the people. The priest 
reported to them its announcements, with any gloss 
that might further his aims. When the priest was 
thrust aside, and the people were allowed to ap- 
proach the sacred oracles, and hear their direct 
utterances, the effect was electrical. In the light of 
revelation men saw what outrageous impositions 
had been palmed off upon them, and sprang into 
conscious vitality and power. 

The result upon the destinies of the world was 
most astonishing. Christian civilization took a high 
tone. Protestant Europe sprang forward with sur- 
prising elasticity. In America a savage continent 
was consecrated to freedom, to civilization, and to 
the Christian faith. 

Best of all, the rubbish was cleared out of the way 
to the cross. The gospel was preached again. The 
pure worship of God was re-established. Christ was 
again recognized as the only Advocate with God. 
Men communed again directly with their Maker, 
and sought and found the witness of adoption. And 
since that day a regenerated Church has been re- 
joicing iu the smile of God. 



THE END. 



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